



TH€ RURAL SCHOOL 
AND THe COMMUNITY 





Book._ , L^ " ^ 

Gopight Is'!' 



COFnUCHT DEPOSIT. 



EDUCATIONAL METHODS 



College Study and College Life. By 
Bernard C. Ewer. 

American Education. By Sidney G. 
Fisher. 

The Philosophical Basis of Educa- 
tion. By Rolland Merritt Shreves. 
The Privilege of Education. By 
George L. Jackson. 

The Rural School and the Commu- 
nity. By Howard T. Lewis. 
Some Fundamental Verities in Edu- 
cation. By Maximilian P. E. Groszmann 
The School System of Norway. By 
David Allen Anderson. 
Education Among the Jews. By Paul 
E. Kretzmann. 

Public Education in Germany and in 
the United States. By L. R. Klemm. 
Problems of the Secondary Teacher. 
By William Jerusalem. Translated by 
Charles F. Sanders. 

RICHARD G. badger, PUBLISHER, BOSTON 



THE RURAL SCHOOL 

AND THE COMMUNITY 

A STUDY OF THE METHODS AND 
APPLICATION OF THE SOCIAL SURVEY 



BY 

HOWARD T. LEWIS 

Head of the Department of 

Economics and Political 

Science, University 

of Idaho 




BOSTON 
RICHARD G. BADGER 

THE GORHAM PRESS 



Copyright, 1918, by Richard G. Badger 



All Rights Reserved 



>S"67 



NOV 18 itiiB 



Made in the United States of America 



The Gorham Press, Boston, U. S. A. 



Qnur.iu^K^c) ^ ),OC/v^A. 



S* DEDICATED 

TO MY MOTHER 

AND 

TO MY WIFE 



PREFACE 

WITHIN the past few years, particularly, there 
has been a tremendous amount of material writ- 
ten upon the rural problem. It is well that it should 
be so, for the field has been so largely neglected that 
many people do not know that there is a rural prob- 
lem; and even now men are by no means agreed as to 
the fundamental issue in that intricate and complex 
situation. It would seem, however, that for the pres- 
ent generation the question is an economic one, and 
particularly one of accounting and marketing; that 
for the future generation it will be a question of edu- 
cation, using the word in the somewhat restricted sense. 

In studying the question, therefore, it is well that 
we should remember that a concrete application of 
sociological principles is never out of place. The diffi- 
culty is that we are prone to apply them in a hasty 
and vague manner, without first finding the actual facts 
involved. It is the old, old story of thinking we know, 
when as a matter of fact we know little about the situ- 
ation, and what we do know we have in a most unsatis- 
factory form. 

The object of the present study is to indicate a way 
in which we may ascertain these things, and, further, 
to suggest some uses to which these facts may be put. 
This book is not to be looked upon as a full and com- 
plete study of social surveying. It is intended merely 
to be suggestive of what may be done in rural educa- 
tion if teachers have patience and the proper training. 

That the book may furnish material for thought, 

5 



6 Preface 

therefore, is all that the author hopes to accomplish. 
If it lead to definite action and to a better correlation 
between school and community, he will then be satis- 
fied indeed. 

The author wishes to acknowledge the kindness of 
the Board of Home Missions of the Presbyterian 
Church for permission to use a number of diagrams 
printed as a part of the Ohio Rural Life Survey 
reports, especially in "Church Growth and Decline in 
Ohio" ; and also the kindness lof the "Educational 
Review" for permission to use parts of an article by 
the present writer entitled, "The Social Survey in 
Rural Education," which appeared in that magazine 
in October, 1914. Free use has also been made of a 
number of bulletins of the Bureau of Education. 



CONTENTS 

CHAPTER PAGE 

I Introduction 11 

II The Function of the Survey 19 

III The Teacher and the Survey .... 40 

IV The Teacher and the Curriculum . . . 55 
V The Problem of the Adult 66 

VI The Training of the Teacher .... 73 

Bibliography 85 

Index 89 



THE RURAL SCHOOL AND THE 
COMMUNITY 



"All knowledge is lost that ends in the knowing." 

— John Ruskm. 



THE RURAL SCHOOL AND 
THE COMMUNITY 



CHAPTER I 

INTRODUCTION 

IT may seem trite and common-place to say that facts 
are fundamental in dealing with questions of public 
policy. Yet the truth is that too many people are 
either unused to or incapable of forming judgment with 
reference to public questions that are based upon 
facts. In matters of scientific research the fact is the 
one thing sought at all hazards. All mechanical arts 
rest upon certain facts which, if recognized, bring 
industrial efficiency; denied, bring ruin and disaster 
upon those who ignore them. A group of men acting 
as the directors of a business concern will insist upon 
having all of the facts as to markets, cost of produc- 
tion, and the like before they will even attempt to lay 
down a financial policy or outline a business campaign. 
Yet strange as it may seem, these same men, dealing 
with matters of a social character, seem willing to rest 
their judgment upon rumor, guess-work, and even 
prejudice. They seem willing to believe demagogic 
statement as though it were the voice of God. They 
argue on the side they want to believe, nor stop to seek 
the facts on the other side. They read newspapers 
that tell them the things they want to be told. They 

11 



12 The Rural School and the CoTmrmnity 

listen to speakers who tell them the things they already 
believe in. One may take almost any great public 
issue which has been before the people of late years as 
an example. The writer is urging neither the wisdom 
nor the justice of woman suffrage, prohibition, nor 
the LaFollette Seamen's law when he submits that the 
judgment of the greater number of people with refer- 
ence to them is not the outcome of sober reasoning, 
indulged in after a search for the facts. Yet under a 
form of government such as ours these questions have 
to be settled by the people, either indirectly through 
the selection of representatives, or directly through 
the initiative and referendum. Facts available to 
every one are neither sought nor demanded, and men 
accept the arguments of others as their own reasoning, 
and their conclusions as of their o^vn mental activity. 
Leaders reason and debate, while the mass of the elec- 
torate delude themselves with the thought that the 
results are of their own making. In one sense this is 
true, but not in the sense which they think. 

If in scientific questions, in industrial questions, in 
financial questions, facts are absolutely essential, it 
would seem little less than criminal that questions of 
social well-being should be settled by guess-work and 
prejudice. 

Nowhere is this general principle — that all public 
policies should rest upon all available facts — more 
applicable in education. Fortunately within recent 
years this has come to be more and more recognized. 
The development of experimental psychology and the 
concrete application of the findings in this great field 
is but one illustration. A more pertinent one for our 
purpose, in some respects, is the attempt to adjust the 
school to the actual world through the introduction 
of the industrial arts. It is felt that such a policy 



Introduction 13 

reduces the school mortality, that it better fits the child 
for the struggle he is later to engage in, and that the 
educational process itself becomes easier when con- 
cepts are developed through concrete things. 

This little book deals especially with this phase of 
the question — that of the adaptation of the school to 
the community and of the use of the school by the com- 
munity. More particularly, it has to do with this 
great work in education in so far as it touches the 
rural communities. In truth, "Facts in Rural Life — 
Their Determination and Utilization" might easily have 
served as a title for the present study. 

Now the rural problem of to-day is a three-fold one 
— technical, economic, and social. The technical has 
to do with such things as drainage and irrigation, fer- 
tilization, feeds and feeding, farm machinery; the eco- 
nomic has to do with buying and selling, marketing 
processes, rural credit ; the social deals with educa- 
tional, cultural, and religious questions, including 
schools, religious organizations, lodges, amusements, 
questions of population, pathological conditions, and 
the like. 

Of these three themes, it may be said with a good 
deal of truth that, though oftimes neglected, the value, 
need, and place of the purely technical questions have 
been receiving in times past the bulk of the attention 
by men whose influence counts most. And within more 
recent times — and especially since the outbreak of the 
European war — men have devoted a very large amount 
of attention to the purely economic phase (as defined 
above) of rural life. Agricultural colleges, agricul- 
tural instruction in the secondary schools, university 
extension work, government bulletins, and numerous 
other agencies open to the utilization of the public, are 
doing all within their power to arouse the farmers to 



14* The Rural School and the Commv/nity 

a just appreciation of the need of conservation and 
proper direction of our economic forces. And those 
in whose interest these things are being done are 
responding well indeed. True, many farmers fail to 
understand and to be reached, but at least one may 
say that more of them are awake to this aspect of 
the problem than ever before, and that those who will 
not be aroused are more than likely, under the increas- 
ing strain of competition, to find themselves outdis- 
tanced in the race. Yet, while all this is appreciated 
to the fullest extent, the economic fact remains that so 
far as from one-half to three-fourths of our farmers 
are concerned, agriculture as a business proposition is 
a business failure, if due allowance is made for interest 
on the invested capital, and the labor time of the farmer 
himself. 

This is not the place to discuss the rural problem in 
all of its manifold aspects. Fundamentally, as H. W. 
Wiley says, it is a matter of making farming pay as 
large or larger profits than urban pursuits.^ 

In view of the technical advance, therefore, the prop- 
osition resolves itself increasingly into an economic one. 
Nor is this of necessity inconsistent with Profesor 
Gillette's view that the difficulty is primarily one of 
the point of view.^ The essence of the whole matter 
is that the farmer has not taught himself to look upon 
farming as a business proposition in the same light as 
the manufacturer or merchant looks upon his business. 
The farmer has too largely failed to look beyond the 
mere matter of productivity itself, and has neglected 
the equally important questions of credit and mar- 
keting.^ 

» Century Magazine, 83:623. 

' See Annals of the American Academy, March, 1912. 
• Proof of this statement is abundant, but it cannot be discussed 
here. See Effingham, Illinois, Democrat, May 18, 1916. 



Introduction 15 

In fact, until the farmer can learn to look over his 
own fence to the world outside ; until he can come to 
see that farming is a business, with all of the dignity, 
responsibilities, and importance of other businesses ; 
until he can see that farming calls for just as intense 
a concentration of thought and energy, as great a 
study of conditions, as rigid a training; until he can 
be shown the competition with which he has to meet 
is just as keen as in other lines of human endeavor, he 
must continue to occupy an inferior position.* 

It is not, however, with this aspect of the rural 
problem that we are here primarily concerned. Tech- 
nical processes and business problems lie beyond the 
scope of this book. In fact, there are many who con- 
tend that the economic aspect is not the fundamental 
weakness ; who argue that the problem of education is 
more significant as a line of endeavor. The Country 
'Life Commission appointed by President Roosevelt said 
(p. 52) that "The schools are held to be largely respon- 
sible for ineffective farming, low ideals, and the drift 
to town." Bailey, for instance, calls the school the 
"Fundamental Problem." ^ Whether or not this is so, 
it is at least true that it is equally important. After 
all, it would seem to be a matter of whether the empha- 
sis should be on the present or the future generation. 
As a matter of fact, there would seem to be no reason 
why either should be neglected. 

Nowhere is the essential unity of human problems 
more clearly shown than just here, where, if anywhere, 
the questions involved are mutually interdependent. 

* Compare Powell Cooperation in Agriculture, p. 14. The posi- 
tion assumed by the present writer is by no means antagonistic 
to that of Mr. Powell. As Mr. Powell himself suggests, however, 
the above constitutes a pre-requisite to permanent betterment of 
any other type. 

° See his Country Life Movement, pp. 61 £F. 



16 The Rural School and the Community 

Thus, if economic advance is dependent upon edu- 
cation, so is the successful school dependent upon a 
satisfactory income. The whole matter is apt to run 
in a vicious circle — low incomes, poor schools, unsatis- 
factory instruction, lack of inspiration and training, 
and thence back to low incomes. In too many in- 
stances the only alternative for the young man or 
woman in the country, who earnestly desires better 
things, is an urban education. The farmer too often 
either will not or cannot — the result has usually been 
the same in either case — contribute adequately to his 
school system. 

So, after all, in a very real sense, Bailey is right, for 
there is no means other than through educational effort 
of some kind, that "better farming" can come to be a 
reality; and until a community can get its adults 
together for a discussion of common problems, and 
can train its children to appreciate the situation in its 
true light, permanent uplift of a general character 
cannot be hoped for. And in this systematic develop- 
ment, no one can occupy a more significant position 
than the teacher, if he but try. Not that a teacher 
needs to be an agricultural expert — far from it — but 
he can provide "the motive power." 

Mention has already been made of the fact that there 
is not place where the unit}^ of social life is more real 
than in the rural community. Such being the case, it 
would seem to be in accord with the best interests of 
all concerned to have some kind of a clearing-house for 
all of the activities of the community. At the present 
time the function performed by such an institution is 
too little emphasized. The State and Federal govern- 
ments furnish a large mass of material on the technique 
of farming, but much of it is purely technical, and most 
of it demands local application and adaptation. Clean 



Introduction 17 

recreation and social functions are furnished by various 
unrelated agencies and hence are too often unsuccess- 
ful. The educational work itself is often hampered by 
criticism from a good many people not sympathetically 
acquainted with the actual facts of the case or with 
the object sought by the teacher. The whole situation 
is one that calls for some kind of a unifying agency. 
These problems remain unsolved — or only partially 
solved — because no single agency is provided whose 
function it is to get the facts of the situation, to present 
them in the proper perspective, and to get the citizens 
of the community together for a common discussion of 
them. From the point of view of the teacher, this is 
unfortunate for several reasons, primarily because he 
and the people in whose ultimate interests he is labor- 
ing are both working in the dark, but also because 
the immediate technical work of the school lacks adapt- 
ability. 

Unfortunately, though constantly emphasized in the 
abstract, too few rural workers are willing to suggest 
concrete lines of procedure. Perhaps, in part, this is 
a scholastic weakness — a failure of the Normal school. 
Be that as it may, the fact remains that the average 
teacher feels hopelessly at sea, knowing neither where 
to begin nor how to proceed. In the city this 
inability on the part of the teacher is not so significant, 
since there are any number of other agencies 
willing and able to take up the task, and many 
strong men and women capable of leading. Neither 
of these things are as true of the open country. There 
are too often no trained and efficient leaders, and the 
only agency (outside of the school) is apt to be the 
church. The church is always at a disadvantage in 
this respect, for once let it undertake the task and it 
is accused of proselyting. Moreover, the competition 



18 The Rural School and. the Community 

between rural churclies is usually most keen, and coop- 
eration almost out of the question, even assuming that 
the ministers are capable of taking the initiative in 
rural regeneration — an assumption too often not in 
accord with the facts. The teacher, on the other 
hand, is a communit}^ employee, paid out of the general 
taxes. He is a "community character," and presumed 
to be enlightened, broad-minded, and an aggressive 
leader. These are but some of the reasons why the 
teacher may well be the impelling factor. 

With the theory of the situation as thus outlined, 
there cannot be a great deal of disagreement. The 
fact of the rural problem, the need of attacking it in 
a scientific manner, and the need of a propelling and 
directing force, do not admit serious adverse criti- 
cism. But, granting so much, the greater problem still 
confronts us, namely, how is the work to be done.'' Is 
this general accumulation of facts a part of the 
teacher's function? Has he the time and the means 
for the performance of it.? What shall he do with the 
bare facts after they are once in his possession.'' These 
are questions less easily answered. Yet an answer is 
imperative, for if this be not the proper agency, people 
should know it and look elsewhere. Not that the same 
agency need be employed everywhere — this is a matter 
to be determined by local circumstances, but is it 
generally true.'' In any case, the teacher must be a 
part of the movement, and this part demands consider- 
ation, at least. 

It is to an analysis of this question that this little 
work is devoted. 



CHAPTER II 

THE FUNCTION OF THE SURVEY 

"In order to arrive at all the significant facts upon which an 
adequate constructive program may he based, the active co- 
operation of all is necessary." 

THERE has been within the past few years much 
laudable effort made to get at the facts involved 
in questions of dispute. This tendency is far from 
being confined to any one phase of the rural problem 
and far less has it been restricted to this field alone. 
In broader matters of public policy, surveys and inves- 
tigations seem at last to have come into their own. 
Men, in times past, have been too willing to follow the 
old rule of "nine-tenths guess and one-tenth knowl- 
edge." Fortunately, society is insisting more and 
more upon nine-tenths knowledge and one-tenth esti- 
mate. 

There is scarcely a field of human endeavor in which 
this tendency has not appeared. The census itself has 
long been illustrative of the desire to gain facts, but it 
never has been so scientifically organized nor so exten- 
sively used as it is to-day; and further reforms are 
promised. In fact, so much data is collected by the 
enumerators that its publication is thereby delayed 
so long as to rob it of at least a part of its value. In 
legislative matters, too, there has never been a time 
when so many committees have been appointed for the 
investigation of subjects of public concern. Scarcely 
a law is enacted dealing with any subject, that is not 

19 



20 The Rural School and the Commimity 

based upon extensive research. The work of the 
National Monetary Commission and of the Tariff 
Commission occur to one at once in this connection. 
The whole field of efficiency engineering is based upon 
this modern tendency.^ Time was when men guessed at 
the proper speed of a metal lathe ; to-day, a slide-rule is 
utilized and waste is eliminated. Twenty-five years 
ago, if a telephone company wished to establish a 
branch exchange, its promoters built where they 
thought the city was going to expand ; now a careful 
study of the movement of local population is made, and 
statistics thus compiled form the basis for a scien- 
tific judgment. Once, men about to lease a building 
in the business section of the city located on the corner 
where they thought the traffic was the heaviest; to-day 
an accurate count is made of the passing pedestrians 
for a week at a time, and they know where trade is the 
briskest. 

If this has been true in business and in industrial pur- 
suits, it is scarcely less true in social matters. As 
Professor Gillette has pointed out, the work of Charles 
Booth in London, published in his "Life and Labor of 
the People of London," may well be called the begin- 
ning of the modern survey. City life of the present 
day is so complicated, there are so many currents and 
cross-currents to be reckoned with that no construc- 
tive reform can well be undertaken without first secur- 
ing adequate and accurate data. Success may come 
without this, but it will come blindly and largely by 
accident. The comprehensive surve^i-s at Buffalo, 
Pittsburgh, and Cleveland are the best known examples 
of this activity. Whether it be for housing reform, 
the elimination of disease, or the construction of a 

^ See an article by the author in Popular Science Monthly, Jan. 
1913, "Problem of Efficiency of Labor," especially p. 157 ff. 



The Function of the Survey 21 

public utility, the need of adequate facts is equally 
great. Where human welfare is at stake, men cannot 
well afford to guess at solutions. 

That the problem is of a different character does not 
mean that the need is any less in the work of rural 
reconstruction. Yet here, as is so apt to be the case, 
the new tendency was late in making itself felt. There 
are a number of reasons for this. In part it was due 
to the fact that the problem was less apparent, and 
thought to be less complex. Moreover, the city is a 
more compact whole with definite boundaries. But 
rural life surveys are fast becoming recognized as a 
necessary prerequisite for social advance in the country 
as truly as in the city.- Up to the present time 
these have been confined to special lines of work, par- 
ticularly religious and educational. True, surveys of 
a general nature have been made of particular com- 
munities, but they have been few and unrelated. On 
the other hand, the work of President Roosevelt's 
Country Life Commission, though extremely valuable, 
was too broad to be more than merely suggestive. 

As has been indicated, almost the only surveys of 

*A recent writer in the American Journal of Sociology (vol. 
17, p. 647ff.) has suggested the following reasons for making a 
survey of rural and small communities, among others: — ^(1) all 
social problems are inter-related problems, and need to be studied 
as such. Educational problems, for instance, cannot be satis- 
factorily dealt with if other phases of community life are 
neglected. (2) In a small community, a large force of trained 
workers is not needed. There are plenty of problems to be dealt 
with, but the getting of the facts regarding them is not overly 
diflBcult. (3) Every community is different from every other 
community, which emphasizes the need at the same time that it 
maintains interest. (4) A present-day consideration of the situa- 
tion would prevent many evils from arising in the future. (5) 
The small community is more typical of American life than the 
large one. (6) Intimate acquaintanceship on the part of the 
workers leads to more accurate results than are possible in larger 
undertakings. 



The Rural School and the Community 

I lie Uark doud of L/ommerc'taVism 
Of 598 cKorcK Soc\a\s 

held dv/r'ini 



a ^« 



•6 0,5% 



ZTt mone\|-making events 
SnouU tne cnurch l>uy its su|^|[io>t 



\\\Q Absentee Minister 
and 

Cnurcn E.Tficienc>| 
X%S cKurcKes 







I I Grwwlnj m Net ^win^ 



The Function of the Survey 
LANDJiONOPOLY 



% oi the FarrwTS Orm 



% oi tli« LiinJ 



Rural Cnurch JDccline 
in fiortljwesteytt Ohio 



OF lOO 
CUorchcS 



Of |»ft| 
0|>€n-Coyntr»| 
Churches 





^1% 1X% 

ave not &rowmg 



23 



The riake- shift School leacKer 

Certificates held By XOk rural 
school teachers in i<ji( -/9/i 




(oZ.T^ for one «/e»r onl«| 



24) The Rural ScJiool and the Commmiity 
NEED FOR FEDERATION 

Tne Vva^ of Salvation for Small UKurches 
Of churches \Mith a membersnifi of '.- 

**<rlcu ii->rf 50-^9 /oo-iw) /$a»<»i>. 

0.0)6 io.156 37.3% «0.fc56 TiTJl 

are Growing 



CONSOLIDATION NEEDED 

Of the rurat schools 





^^^M^^^MMMMMM^MM. 


|S7%nave atO-30 recitations |icrda<i ^ 


mMmm/mm/////////////////M 


Decrease m Improved Farm Lands 




1,011,506 acres m iqoo 






<?3j.035 acres m iqio 





!.()% decrease 



Land Becoming a Luxur\^ 



In 1900 
In 1910 



3S.S1 fier icre 
73/. H Jicr »cfC 



6d. 8 A increase 



The Function of the Survey 25 

rural conditions that have been made, have been with 
a particular end in view. They have largely been 
either religious or educational. Of the two, it can 
scarcely be gainsaid, as a general thing, that the more 
effective of the two has been the religious survey, and 
this for the reason that tliose in charge of the work 
have seen the necessity of correlating the church sur- 
vey with one of the community — a thing which most 
educational surveyors have failed to do. 

A good illustration of this contrast — perhaps the 
best one — may be found in the state of Ohio. Two 
comprehensive surveys have been made of this state 
within the past few years, one by the Ohio Rural Life 
Commission and one by the State Department of Public 
Instruction. The central thought of this chapter is 
so clearly portrayed by these two pieces of work that 
a little attention paid to them will be well worth while. 

The Ohio Rural Life Survey was directed by the 
Department of Church and Country Life of the Board 
of Home Missions of the Presbyterian Church.^ 
Though some additional territory was covered during 
the summer of 1913, the territory covered in 1912 was 
sufficiently broad to make the results of value, and 
the method did not differ essentially from that followed 
during the succeeding summer. During 1912 twenty- 
one truly representative counties of the state were 
covered. The accompanying charts (See pages 22, 23, 
and 24) indicate the results sufficiently for our present 
purpose, and at the same time suggest an attractive 
form in which to place the data before the people. 

From our present point of view, however, the thing 
in which we are interested is not so much the results 
as the plan. The essential thing to note is, that 

' Address 156 Fifth Ave., New York City. The work was under 
the immediate direction of Dr. Warren H. Wilson. 



26 The Rural School and the Community 

VILLAGE COMMUNITY I 

1. Public Library or Reading Room. 

a. Number of volumes? Proportion fiction? 

b. Number of members in village? In country? .... 

c. What cooperation with village schools? 

Country schools? 

d. Average daily attendance of girls (under 15)? 

(boys under 15)? women (15-30)? 

men (15-30)? women (30 and over)? . . 

men (30 and c>ver)? 

e. Date as to circulation, 1911-1912: 

(1) Fiction? 

(2) Other? 



2. What Local Health Ordinances exist? 
How well enforced? 



8. Describe fully village lockup Are tramps housed 

free of charge? How many, June 1, 1912 — May 31. 1913? 

What cases before Mayor or Justice of Peace same period? 



4. Get list of girls who need vocational training. 

5. Get list of girls who have left school. 



6. Who are the girl leaders in this community? 

(Give reasons for each seleclion) 

'One of a number of blanks covering this topic. 

though the survey was intended primarily for furnish- 
ing data upon which to judge the church, it was by no 
means confined to a study of the church plant and 
equipment. In fact, were one to guess the object of 
the work from the various kinds of data collected, one 
would sometimes be at a loss to know what the central 
theme might be. For information was collected, 
checked, tabulated, and presented in attractive form 
upon farm incomes ; retired farmers ; moving-picture 
shows ; the life, habits, and tastes of country girls ; the 
conditions of the community as to libraries, health 
ordinances, the village lock-up, etc. ; topography, 



The Function of the Survey ^7 

STUDY OF MOTION PICTURE SHOWS 

Name of village? Population? No. M. P. places? 

Name of theatre? Owned by local interest? Outside interest? 

Admission .... cents. Times per week open? Seating 

apacity? Total admission per week? Average admission per 

afternoon? 'Evening? Proportion of audience under 16? 

Proportion of audience from country? Ventilation of hall? Adequate 

e xits? Appearance of hall neat? 



Subjec of film? Maker? General Film 

Co.? Independent? General Character: Geographical? 

Current Events? Historical? Drama-Comedy? Farce? 

Tragedy? Melodrama? Other forms of drama? 

Artistic merits: Clear picture? Scenic effects? Good acting? 

Educational value: Indicate 

Points of moral value? 

Immoral qualities? 

Describe the general effect of the film (summarize the plot if necessary). Is it moral? 
Immoral? Insipid? 

Remarks 

Investigator Date 



natural wealth, and kinds of farming; shifting of popu- 
lation ; as well as special information bearing on Sun- 
day Schools, church equipment, and the minister. 
The accompanying sample blanks give some idea of the 
breadth of the undertaking. 

Let us compare with this the survey made by the 
state itself in regard to its educational system. The 
work was done in 1913, and as a study of the schools 
themselves, as isolated factors, the survey was one of 
the most thorough and painstaking ever undertaken. 
Those acquainted with the details of that survey will 
testify to the fact that the questions asked were lack- 
ing neither in completeness nor in definiteness. They 



28 The Rural School and the Commwnity 



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The Function of the Survey 



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32 The Rural School and the Community 

covered every phase of the question, from the size of 
the grounds and the material of the building itself, to 
the nature of the towels used. A total of over 240 
questions were asked on one set of blanks alone.* 

If one were to ask the purpose of this wide survey, 
the answer would be at once, — to gain increased effi- 
ciency. As the director of the survey put it: "This 
survey affects directly and immediately the welfare of 
900,000 children, the efficient expenditure of 
$30,000,000 annually, and the operation to the best 
advantage of a $75,000,000 plant." Now, increased 
efficiency, though it may seem trite to say it, is largely 
a matter of adjustment. So many times has the ques- 
tion of readjustment been raised in teachers' conven- 
tions and elsewhere that the mere mention of the word 
is sufficient to provoke a smile. Yet withal, we can 
scarcely give it too much attention, if we mean hy it 
the proper thing. The real difficulty is that too many 
times we have either proceeded blindly to "adjust 
something," and naturally enough we have blundered, 
or we have contented ourselves with mere talking about 
the value of adjustment. To illustrate, Ohio has, as 
has already been suggested, made a state-wide survey. 
The object professed is that we may know in what con- 
dition the schools really are, not what our belief con- 
cerning them is, not what we think thej' are, but 
what actually exists, — and to the end that they may be 
better adjusted to the needs of the various communi- 
ties, made more uniform in quality, and rendered gen- 
erally more efficient. This work has been well done, 
and its value is tremendous, if it is used in the right way. 
But note that it has little or no value in and of itself, 
aside from a consideration of mere interest. As 

* Note the character of the data called for in the illustrative 
blank. 



The Function of the Survey 33 

Ruskin says, "All knowledge is lost that ends in the 
knowing," and it would be of no value at all, from the 
viewpoint of reconstruction, to know that 14.5% of the 
rural schools in Worcester county, Massachusetts, are 
one hundred years old or over. Nor does it aid in and 
of itself to know that "65% of the schools were found 
to have no adjustable school furniture, floors were 
seldom scrubbed or oiled, few opportunities were 
offered pupils to heat anything for the mid-day lunch, 
and in few cases were there any special apparatus for 
ventilation." ^ If, therefore, this information is used 
to accomplish nothing more than the mere dropping 
from the curriculum certain courses and the introduc- 
tion of certain others ; if we consider that we have done 
our duty if we introduce hygiene, nature study, and 
domestic science, taught everywhere in the same way 
from the same texts, splendid though these may be; if 
the examination of a school building leads merely to 
the construction of a better building; the result will at 
least be a failure to accomplish all that might be 
achieved by this expenditure of effort. For, note that 
the end of education is not the curriculum, but the 
people of this and the coming generation; and if we 
limit our attention, as we are so apt to do in our inves- 
tigations, to the school-house, we commit an unpardon- 
able error. 

An illustration may make the point more clear. "I 
dare say," said Frederick W. Taylor before the Tuck 
School Conference on Scientific Management, "that you 
think there is no science in shoveling dirt. . . . There 
is, however, a best way of doing everything. . . . The 
workers of the Bethlelicm Steel Company, for instance, 

* This is not offered as a criticism of the work of Dr. Aspinwall, 
of the State Normal School at Worcester, who realizes as fully as 
any one the value of a correlation between school and com- 
munity. 



34 TJw Rural School and the Community 

almost all owned their own shovels, and I have seen 
them go day after day to the same shovel for every 
kind of work, from shoveling rice coal, three and one- 
half pounds to the shovel load, to shoveling heavy wet 
ore, thirty-eight pounds to the shovel-load. Is three 
and one-half pounds right or is thirty-eight pounds 
right? .... We began by taking the maximum load 
on the shovel and counting shovelfuls all day long and 
weighing the tonnage at the end of the day. I think 
there was about thirty-eight pounds to the shovel. 
We found how much those men could do when they were 
shoveling at thirty-eight pounds to the shovel on the 
average. And then we got shorter shovels holding 
about thirty-four pounds, and measured the tonnage 
per day, and it was greater than when they were using 

the thirty-eight pound shovel Again we reduced 

the load to thirty pounds, and they did still a greater 
tonnage, again to twenty-eight pounds, and another 
increase, and the load kept on increasing as we dimin- 
ished the shovel-load until we reached about twenty-one 
pounds ; at twenty-one pounds the man did his biggest 
day's work. With twenty pounds, with eighteen pounds, 
with seventeen, and with fourteen, they did again a 
smaller day's work. . . . The foundation of that part 
of the science of shoveling then, lies in always giving a 
shoveler a shovel which will hold twenty-one pounds, 
whatever material he is using. 

"What were the consequences of that ? In the Beth- 
lehem Steel Works we had to build a shovel room for 
our common laborers. Up to that time the men had 
owned their own sliovels. We had to equip this room 
with eight or ten kinds of shovels, so that whatever a 
man went at, whether rice coal on the one hand or very 
heavy ore on the other, he would have just a twenty-one 
pound load." 



The Function of the Survey 35 

The point to this illustration lies in the fact that 
Mr. Taylor did not stop when he had collected his 
data on the kind of shovel, the length of handle, and 
size of the scoop, the weight of a shovelful of a par- 
ticular kind of ore, and the amount that an average 
man could shovel in a day. Nor did he blindly choose 
a half a dozen shovels of various sizes, and tell his men 
to pick the one they thought would best do the work. 
On the contrary, he took twenty-one pounds of each 
kind of material that had to be shoveled, and selected 
a shovel with just the right size of scoop, and finally, 
under the direction of one who was held responsible 
for this phase of the work, a particular shovel was 
given out each day to each individual, to correspond 
to the kind of ore he was to shovel. Not until this was 
done did Mr. Taylor consider his duty accomplished. 
As a matter of fact, he went even further than this, 
and taught the men how to use the shovels in order 
best to conserve their energy. 

So, too, ought it be in education. The State of Ohio 
knows practically all that there is to know about its 
school situation from a purely mechanical point of 
view. The school is not attaining its full degree of 
efficiency — so much indeed is known. It has been de- 
termined how many one-room school buildings there are 
within the State, how much the teachers are paid, how 
inadequately the school plant is equipped, and all this. 
A high standard of efficiency has been kept in mind as 
an ideal throughout all this. In the terms of the illus- 
tration, we know where the shovels come from and what 
the ideal load is. But do we know enough about the 
material to be shoveled to be sure how large a scoop 
it is going to take in every instance to get just twenty- 
one pounds — no more and no less.? Or are we, know- 
ing how large the load ought to be, to guess at the 



36 The Rural ScJiool and the Community 

weight of the ore — to try several shovels until we think 
we are right? In short, what do we Jcnow about the 
people and their life — those for whom all this has been 
done?^ Do we know the particular circumstances and 
the peculiarities of each individual community to which 
we are asked to adjust this reconstructed school? 
And if not, then has not half of the problem been 
lost sight of? 

"But," it is urged, "we know all of this. It is per- 
fectly obvious that we cannot adapt things when we 
do not know to what we are to adapt them. But we 
do know all about our community, we are acquainted 
with the parents of our children, we know what the 
crops are, and we know that one of our churches is 
not as strong as the other." 

This is well and good so far as it goes. But how 
many reputed successful, can answer the following list 
of questions, selected at random, not from the general 
impression only, but with a reasonable degree of 
accuracy? 

1. Has the population of your township been in- 
creasing or diminishing within the past tea years, and 
by what percentage? 

2. What per cent of the farmers in the locality are 
renters? On what terms do they rent? 

3. Of the renters, how many of them are such be- 
cause of the high cost of land and how many are 
merely using this means as a step toward ultimate 
ownership ? 

" The Report of the Ohio State School Survey Commission is a 
voluminous book of 352 pages. It is a veritable mine of infor- 
mation regarding the school system of the state. Out of the 
twenty-two sections into which it is divided, however, but two are 
directly concerned with these other factors, a total of 45 pages 
out of the 352. Of these 45, 2 are devoted to "General Community 
Conditions" and 43 to "Outside Cooperation with Rural Schools." 



The Function of the Survey 37 

4. Is the racial complexion of the place changing, 
in what way, and how rapidly? Is the change for 
better or for worse? 

5. Where is the local produce marketed, and at 
what price? 

6. Are there any efforts at cooperation? Have 
any such attempts failed in times past, and why? 

7. How many of the farmers make use of available 
government bulletins? How many take agricultural 
papers? Other papers? 

8. How many churches are there in the community? 
How many are growing? If declining, what is the 
cause of their decay? How many boys and how many 
girls are in the Sunday Schools? 

9. What is the percentage of illiteracy in the com- 
munity? 

10. How many of the farmers borrow money, on 
what security, from whom, and at what rate? 

11. As to the new farmers, where do they come 
from, why did they leave their former places of resi- 
dence, and were they ever farmers before? 

12. What percentage of the people are church 
members? Of those who are not (a) what is the 
reason, (b) have they a church preference? 

13. How much has the township spent on improve- 
ments within the past five years, and on what? 

14. What Is the tax rate this year? 

15 What is the condition of any charitable or cor- 
rectional institution in the township? By whom is it 
supported, how many Inmates are there, and how is the 
superintendent chosen? 

16. In what way does the school cooperate with 
the other social agencies In the community? 

17. To whom do you report a case of economic 
distress ? 



38 Tlie Rural School and tli€ Community 

18. What are the occupations of the township 
trustees ? 

19. What is the average income of the farmers in 
the community, and how many of them fail to get a 
comfortable living, using that term in its generally 
accepted sense.'' 

20. Are there any crops that might be profitably 
introduced into the community .^^ What is the greatest 
need of the soil.^ How does land sell, per acre.'' 

21. Is the locality predominately Republican or 
Democratic.'' How many Socialists are there.'' Of 
what type.? 

22. How many qualified voters are there in the 
township.'' What percentage of them vote at any elec- 
tion? 

Remember, it is not asked what we think about 
these tilings, but what we know. And we must not 
answer for our own community on the basis of what 
is true in some other locality with which we chance to 
be acquainted. In short, in what position are we to 
adjust that school, of which we know so much, to the 
community ? 

To put the question thus baldly is in itself sufficient 
to point the significance of the social survey to the 
educational forces of the state. In other lines of edu- 
cational activity this has been recognized. Men have 
made intensive studies of conditions in order to develop 
a system of industrial education, of continuation 
schools, and of technical schools adapted to changed 
conditions. But the rural aspect has been largely 
neglected. Yet it is obvious that we can no longer, as 
the Utopian Socialists tried to do, develop an institu- 
tion that is everywhere and always to be the same, if 
we intend that institution to be of the greatest service 
to humanity. Nor can we, by a study of that insti- 



The Function of the Survey 39 

tution alone, have adequate information in regard to 
the community into which it is to fit. These things 
we can know only by actual, painstaking investigation. 
And this, in brief, is the place of the social survey in 
education. 



CHAPTER III 

THE TEACHER AND THE SURVEY 

T T is evident from the discussion thus far, that any 
-*■ effort to adjust our schools to the commimities 
which they are to serve, must rest primarily upon an 
accurate knowledge of all of the factors involved ; that 
this knowledge must be more than mere impression and 
belief ; and that a survey of the community, in an effort 
to ascertain these facts, cannot be adequate if it stops 
with a detailed study of the school system alone. So 
much, in theory at least, will doubtless be granted by 
any careful student of the problem. But in some 
senses, the greater part of the task still lies before 
us — namely, who is to undertake the work and how is 
it to be done.'' We may, therefore, very properly pass 
on to a consideration of these questions. 

It has already been pointed out that there is no one 
to whom we should be able to look with greater confi- 
dence in this connection, than to the teacher himself.-^ 
Two difficulties, however, confront us, — one being the 
question of time at the teacher's disposal, and the 
other being the method of procedure. In one sense 
these are merely different aspects of the same problem, 
for the matter of time required depends in no small 
measure upon the method used. They are not, how- 
ever, altogether the same question, and for this reason 
they may well be treated separately. 

Undoubtedly, a bald statement that the majority of 
*See Chapter I. Especially pp. 5-6. 

40 



The Teacher and the Survey 41 

teachers have ample time to make a social survey, would 
raise at once a vast chorus of denial. Yet it is so 
easy to take it for granted that the teacher's time is 
already well filled, that it is not altogether out of place 
to examine the matter a little further in an effort to see 
just how much of truth lies in the assertion. 

At the very outset, it may be well to grant that the 
statement as made, is subject to several limitations. 
In the first place, it is unquestionably true, that a 
young pedagog, during his first year in the field, does 
have his time pretty well filled up. The arrangement 
and preparation of his work is all upon his hands to a 
greater degree than it will be at any subsequent stage 
of his career. Questions of discipline call for more 
thought and care than will be required later on. No 
attempt is made to belittle the truth and importance 
of the value of study and discipline, nor is their neces- 
sity open to successful dispute. It should be noted, 
however, that these things are true to the same extent, 
only during the first year, — or at the most, during the 
first two years of one's teaching experience. 

The teacher's tirse is also well occupied at times of 
examinations and special entertainments, such as are 
given, and rightly so, on such occasions as Christmas 
and Commencement. At such times the teacher has 
little opportunity or energy to devote to what may 
seem to be an outside interest. Here it should be noted 
that these are special occasions, and not the usual rou- 
tine. It may also be added that many a school is 
lessened in efficiency by an undue number of these occa- 
sions for activities. Many a school would be infinitely 
better off were these "unusual" occasions reduced in 
number and were the regular routine of reports and 
the like given a more thorough over-hauling. 

A third limitation upon the teacher's time may also 



42 The Rural School and the Commimity 

be conceded. Every teacher is expected to enter into 
the life of the community, and consequently social de- 
mands are not to be overlooked. 

When all this is said, however, it still leaves the es- 
sence of the statement untouched. No more erroneous 
impression is extant in educational matter of to-day, 
than that the teacher is "simply rushed to death." 
Teachers have hidden behind this as an excuse for so 
long, that they have not only persuaded others that it 
is true, but they have come actually to believe it them- 
selves. As a matter of actual fact, teachers have seized 
upon this statement as an excuse for evading the 
responsibility for doing any number of things that, in 
their hearts, they know should be done. This is par- 
ticularly true of the male members of the profession, 
who often find ample time to engage in any number of 
outside activities that seem to them to be more agree- 
able, but who reply vigorously to any appeal for up- 
building of the school itself, that they lack the time. 
The excuse is, with men, often backed by a plea that 
their income is too low for them to maintain a suitable 
standard of living unless they engage in these outside 
activities. If they were but frank about the matter, 
they would appreciate the fact that in most instances 
they are getting every cent that they earn, and many 
of them are getting more than they are entitled to, 
judging by what they actually accomplish. 

But the criticism is by no means applicable to men 
alone. The feminine members of the profession find 
a splendid excuse for a round of pleasures in the plea 
that they must "enter into the life of the community," 
a statement that is true enough, but like everything 
else, it is easily overdone. 

The truth of the whole matter is, that if teachers 
spend anywhere near the amount of time, thought, and 



The Teacher and the Survey 43 

energy in their chosen profession that a lawyer, or 
physician, or manufacturer spends in his, they might 
then well object to added burdens. But if so much 
time was spent on their work, much that now has to 
be forced upon them almost at the point of a knife 
would already have been accomplished ; the teacher's 
income would be considerably higher; and our schools 
would be less an object of criticism.^ 

The recognition of this truth is particularly essen- 
tial in the matter of the survey. The movement can 
scarcely be criticised on the grounds of being an "edu- 
cational frill," nor on the grounds that the teacher 
lacks sufficient time, for there is no reason in the world 
why the teacher need do all of the work himself. More- 
over, the whole idea is related in a most fundamental 
way with the working efficiency of the school and might 
well be done, therefore, even at a sacrifice of some other 
things. The surveys already undertaken of the school 
plants in various localities, indicate the general accept- 
ance of this proposition. 

It becomes evident, therefore, that some attention 
should be devoted to the matter of method. It has 
already been suggested that few teachers have the 
time or the means at their disposal for a complete sur- 
vey, if they undertake the task alone. But there is 
no reason why this should be done. There are many 
agencies at hand, and more that can be developed, with 
wliich the teacher may cooperate. Even the first 
stages of the planning of the survey and the drafting of 
the blanks upon which the data is to be collected, need 
not be wholly original work, as there are a number of 

* It may be urged that cause and effect have been inverted in 
the matter of teachers' incomes. If we are to judge by experience 
in other lines of human endeavor, however, it is safe to say that 
teachers' wages will be increased when they prove that they are 
earning more, and not until then. 



44 The Rural School and the Commmdty 

sources from which assistance may be obtained. 

Thus, the Ohio Rural Life Survey has covered a 
large number of counties in that State, and though 
particular attention was devoted to the church prob- 
lem, social and economic conditions were by no means 
neglected. The Department of Surveys and Exhibits 
of the Russell Sage Foundation is always willing to 
lend a helping hand in matters of this kind. The 
United States Bureau of Education has itself published 
a bulletin that contains a suggestive list of questions 
that might well be investigated,^ including questions of 
population, economic conditions, social conditions, and 
educational and religious conditions. Two of the more 
recent works on rural sociology contain an admirable 
chapter on the rural survey, including a suggestive list 
of questions to be covered.* The American Unitarian 
Association, through its Department of Social and Pub- 
lic Service has issued a bulletin of considerable value 
entitled "Knowing One's Own Community." This may 
be had for the asking. The College of Agriculture of 
the University of Wisconsin has issued a number of 
extremely helpful bulletins which treat of the rural 
survey and the wider use of the school plant. Surely 
no one need complain of lack of suggestive material.^ 

The second step in the making of a survey, once the 
schedules have been put into satisfactory shape, is to 
get a corps of assistants to do the field work. This 
may be done in one of two ways, or, if the situation be 

* Training Courses for Rural Teachers, p. 9, Bulletin No. 2, 1913. 

* Gillette, Rural Sociology, Ch. 18, and Voght, Introduction to 
Rural Sociology. 

' It would be useless to attempt to suggest here a detailed 
schedule to follow. Several of the above mentioned references 
contain such schedules, and often sample blanks can be secured 
from agencies that have made a survey. Each community must, 
moreover, adjust the schedules to meet its own needs. 



Tlie Teacher and the Survey 45 

such that it is possible, a combination of these two 
ways may be utihzed. 

The teacher, who is presumed to be the general head 
and director of the work, may choose a staff of five 
or ten careful persons, well known in the community, 
representative of the various interests, who can be re- 
lied upon to exercise judgment and discretion in their 
work. A good method of procedure is to make a list of 
all those in any way available, and then, with the 
above qualifications in mind, check over the list, elimi- 
nating those people that, for ariy reason, are not alto- 
gether suited to the particular work in hand. Care 
should be taken that no section is without a represen- 
tative, if it can be avoided in any way. It is well that 
all classes, young and old, as well as every economic 
interest (such as agricultural, mercantile, professional, 
etc.) should be represented. Local prejudices and 
sectional jealousies can best be eliminated by so doing. 
There is also the added advantage of avoiding one- 
sided conclusions. The staff thus tentatively chosen 
may then be called together and the matter laid before 
them. The object desired should be explained, other 
surveys discussed, and the methods of attacking the 
present problem talked over. It is also well to raise 
the matter of including others, not present, in the 
staff. Absolute frankness is quite essential, and it is 
quite probable that many compromises will have to be 
effected. 

The second method of getting the field work done is 
perhaps more satisfactory, at least in certain respects. 
In almost every locality there are a number of existing 
organizations of one kind or another, and sometimes 
the number may be as high as a dozen or even more. 
Where this is the case, it may be well to put the work 
into the hands of an organization. By so doing, an 



46 The Rural School and the Community 

existing piece of machinery is utilized, and a further 
advantage accrues from the facts that greater vitality 
in the organization comes from having a definite work 
to do ; a thing of ttimcs of greatest good in itself. 
Where this plan is followed, it is well to talk the mat- 
ter over with prominent individual members of the 
organization first, and, after they have secured the 
promise of assistance from their organization, the 
teacher can appear before them in person, if he chance 
not to be a member, and proceed as already suggested. 
It is quite essential that, within the organization itself, 
responsibility be centered through some individual, in 
a committee. The question of which organization, if 
there be more than one, is chosen, must be most care- 
fully considered by the director, as a poor selection may 
easily wreck the whole procedure. For reasons already 
suggested, it is usually well, other things being equal, 
to select some religious club or organization. 

The last-named difficulty — that of choosing which 
organization shall be entrusted with the work — may be 
avoided by a combination of the two methods already 
suggested. If there be several agencies available, it is 
often advisable to give a portion of the work to each 
of them, thus avoiding jealousies, insuring representa- 
tion of most (if not all) the leading interests in the 
community, and popularizing the work, while at the 
same time "half-dead" organizations are revived by 
having a real work to do. Where this policy is fol- 
lowed, it is well to have each group choose a single 
representative (as must of course be done in any case 
if efficient work is to be done) and then organize these 
various representatives into a single Executive Com- 
mittee, of which the teacher should be the chairman. 

This Executive Committee should convene frequently, 
and go over every detail of the work and understand. 



The Teacher and the Survey 47 

perfectly each detail on the schedules before actual 
field work is undertaken. In the division of the field 
among the various organizations, it is well that, wher- 
ever possible, no organization should examine its own 
particular section of the field ; for although there is 
the possibility of prejudice where one organization sur- 
veys another, this danger can be avoided with far 
greater ease than the opposite one of unduly favor- 
able returns as a result of too close acquaintanceship 
with one particular function. 

The machinery having been selected, the next step is 
to collect the data.^ If possible, a printed or type- 
written copy of instructions to all collectors of data 
should be placed in the hands of those engaged in the 
work. In any event, it is well to make a number of 
suggestions to these people. The following list is 
fairly representative of the nature of these suggestions. 
The hints given come from actual experience in the 
work, and may therefore be of some value. 

Keep all blanks in a notebook; separate (as with a 

"The problem of just what constitutes the "Community" is 
somewhat simplified where the ultimate object is educational ad- 
justment, since in this case the unit is the school district to which 
the teacher is responsible. In cases where the survey is not 
primarily undertaken by the school yet presumably in the inter- 
ests of the school the best plan, perhaps, of defining the com- 
munity boundary is that suggested by the University of Wis- 
consin, College of Agriculture, "Begin at the village center and 
go west into the open country. The first farmhouse goes to this 
village for trade, doctor, high school, church, etc. It therefore 
belongs to this community. So the second home west, the third, 
the fourth, etc. Finally, you come to a home that turns the other 
way to another village for its principal needs. This home does 
not belong to your community. Connect with a line all the most 
distant homes in each direction, that you find turning to the 
activities in your village center. This line will be the boundary 
of your community." See University of Wisconsin, Agricultural 
Experiment Station, Circular of Information No. 20 — "A Method 
of Making a Social Survey" by C. J. Galpin. 



48 The Rural School and the Community 

rubber band) those filled out from those still to be filled 
out, as well as keeping various sets of blanks separate. 

Do not confine your notes to the blank questions. 
Remember that no set of blanks can anticipate all infor- 
mation ; hence do not neglect facts simply because there 
is no specific space for them. These sidelights are 
often the most valuable bits of information that it is 
possible to get, and throw an infinite amount of light 
upon the explanation of the other data. 

At every possible point, check up the facts that have 
been given you. Thus, the condition of the church 
should not be accepted from information from the 
pastor alone, but should be confirmed from disinterested 
sources. 

Do not categorically quizz in an effort to secure 
information if any other method can be used. By so 
doing you are apt to arouse antagonism and at the 
same time you automatically exclude the possibility of 
securing side-lights upon the situation. 

Take plenty of time. You can never tell how much 
you may miss by hurrying your informer. 

Take photographs of very good or very poor condi- 
tions. These confirm the data, give a measure for 
future improvement, and increase the interest. 

Do not hand in a card or answer a question without 
reading it twice. 

In returning cards, do not fold them — hand them 
in flat. It adds to the ease of dealing with them when 
it comes to filing. 

Be sure to sign your name to every card you hand 
in. In no other way can data be checked up if called 
into question. 

Do not ask any one for information necessary to 
fill out the cards if you can possibly obtain it by per- 
sonal investigation. 



The Teacher and the Survey 49 

Take mental notes of things where written answers 
might arouse opposition and would be observed at the 
time. Many people "close up like clams" if they think 
they are telling you something which might be used. 
But make written memoramdum at the earliest available 
moment. 

Obtain exact information wherever possible. Do not 
be satisfied with "estimates" if there are any records 
available. (Thus, in getting the church membership, 
go to the church rolls, and do not rely upon the in- 
former's estimates, no matter how well informed he may 
appear to be.) 

Take your notes with a fountain pen, and write 
legibly. Remember that jou are not the only one who 
may want to read what you have written. 

It is well, if possible, to get written copies of consti- 
tutions and the like, of any organizations with which 
you are dealing, whether that organization be economic, 
social, or religious. Do not neglect this simply because 
you "know where it can be found," or because 
"everybody knows about it." It may not be available 
at the very time that it is wanted most, and many a 
constitution contains clauses that even the members of 
the organization know nothing about. 

There is one other thing which it may be well to 
mention, since it is so frequently overlooked. No end 
of information can be gotten from county records, from 
records of Justices of the Peace, from the Census 
returns, and from governmental agencies of other 
kinds. Scarcely any other source of accurate informa- 
tion, for instance, is available on matters of soil com- 
position, rain-fall, and the like. Other information, 
of course, can be obtained from local persons, such as 
the pastors, leading farmers, Sunday School teachers, 



50 The Rural School and the Commwnity 

assessors, presidents and secretaries of local organiza- 
tions, etc. It is also well to get the opinions of numer- 
ous people who are not especially prominent, since 
these form the bulk of the population and their judg- 
ment is the ultimate determinant of success or failure. 

The data having been collected, the next problem is 
what shall be done with it. For when the work in the 
field has been done, the blanks filled out, and the ques- 
tions answered, it is certainly no time to sit down and 
say to ourselves, "What a fine piece of work we have 
done," even though the survey is more complete than 
the usual educational survey. For though the means 
have now been secured, the end still remains to be 
accomplished. At least three things remain to be done : 
(1) the tabulation of the data, (2) its presentation, in 
understandable form, with an analysis thereof, to the 
community to which it really belongs ; and the secur- 
ing of a discussion of the results by the community ; 
(3) the formulation of a constructive program, with 
a view both toward keeping the data up-to-date, and 
toward remedying the community's weak spots. From 
our present point of view, of course, this applies par- 
ticularly to the school system. 

The tabulation of the data is the least difficult of 
these tasks, and yet even here there are several con- 
siderations to be borne in mind. It would be well to 
file the original cards with the data just as it is, fresh 
from the field. This makes it possible to have always 
on hand the material from which to pass upon new 
difficulties as they arise, and at the same time to keep 
the facts strictly up-to-date. The material should also 
be compiled in the form of summary charts. A third 
device is also most helpful, namely, the making of 
charts. Here, again, there is room for the exercise 
of ingenuity. A general, or community, map, drawn 



The Teacher and tJie Survey 51 

on white card-board or cloth-backed paper — perhaps 
36 by 40 inches — and indicating all the roads ; the 
village limits ; the location and occupiers of the out- 
Ij'ing farms ; whether farms are owned or rented ; and 
the location of creameries, churches, and the like. A 
village map of similar size should accompany this. 
Galpin, in the Bulletin No. 20 of the University of 
Wisconsin, College of Agriculture, mentioned above, 
suggests that these same maps may be converted into 
a "socialization map" by assigning to each organiza- 
tion (found by means of the survey) a separate color, 
and then attaching to each farm home shown on the 
maps, seals of the color representative of the organiza- 
tions of which members are to be found in that home. 
In addition to these general maps any number of spe- 
cial maps may be added, as a church map, similar to 
those of the Ohio Rural Life Survey ;''^ a population 
map, indicating the nativity, sex, and age of the inhabi- 
tants, and almost any number of others. 

The second part of the task is to present this data 
to the community in understandable form, with an 
analysis of it. Great effort will usually not be required 
to get the people together to talk over this data, for by 
the time the work has reached this stage every one in 
the community will know about it and be keenly inquisi- 
tive about the results. Merely a notice, therefore, call- 
ing attention to the fact that a general meeting is to 
be held for this purpose, will be quite sufficient. Two 
things must be accomplished at this meeting. In the 
first place, the facts must be presented, uncolored by 
personal feelings, and in such a way that the situation 
is made perfectly clear. Charts, diagrams, and maps 
should be relied upon. It is well to have this material 

' See, for instance, those in the bulletin Church Growth and 
Decay in Ohio, pp. 18-19. 



52 The Rural School and the Community 

on exhibition and open to examination before the meet- 
ing is called to order. Those present can then partially 
familiarize themselves with it before the discussion be- 
gins. Figures are always tiresome to the average audi- 
ence, and care should be taken that too many statistics 
are not given. On the other hand, no doubt should be 
left in the minds of the people as to the actual existence 
of adequate data as a basis for the charts.^ 

The second object to be attained at this town meet- 
ing is to lay the foundation for permanent constructive 
work. Cooperation should be the key-note to the 
whole meeting. It should be made clear that the only 
purpose in showing weaknesses is that they may be 
remedied. With the data thus in hand, with a spirit of 
cooperation developed, and a constructive program 
outlined, the community may well look toward a higher 
plane of educational effort, — an awakened public spirit 
on the one hand, and on the other hand, the way cleared 
for a school that fits into its own locality; and by ad- 
justment, meets its particular demands. For now, and 
not until now, is the teacher ready to say to those who 
support the school, "We are in a position to serve you." 

The signs of the times are good. Earnest minded 
men and women in the teaching profession are trying to 
further efficiency scientifically. There are a number of 
illustrations to which attention might be called ; one — 
that of the Georgia Club of the State Normal School at 
Athens, Georgia — is given below. This is perhaps the 
most notable example. 

"For two years the club has been studying the various 

* Upon the construction of these charts, two sources of informa- 
tion, among a large number of others, might be indicated. The 
publications of the Ohio Rural Life Survey are full of excellent 
suggestions, and the Russell Sage Foimdation issues a pamphlet 
on the construction of Exhibits. 



The Teacher and the Survey 53 

phases and problems of population, agriculture, manu- 
facturing, wealth and taxation, farm ownership and 
tenancy, public roads, public sanitation, cooperative 
farm enterprise, schools and churches in Georgia. The 
state has been passing under searching review as a 
whole, and in detail county by county. Every step of 
the way Georgia is compared with the other States of 
the Union and ranked accordingly. But also her gains 
and losses, between 1900 and 1910, are exhibited in a 
10-year balance sheet. 

Meanwhile the various student groups have been 
working out similar balance sheets for their home coun- 
ties, each county being ranked among the counties of 
the State in all the particulars covered in the club 
studies. These bare facts are then translated into 
simple running narratives for easy reading by the way- 
faring man back in the home counties. Thirty-six 
such county surveys have thus far been given to the 
public. They embody facts and well-considered con- 
clusions. The club believes that facts without opinions 
are useless, and that opinions without facts are imper- 
tinent and mischievous. 

And so the club is ransacking the census returns, 
the reports of the State house officials, the county tax 
digests, and grand jury presentments, the minutes of 
the church associations, the section on Georgia in the 
school library, and every other available source of au- 
thoritative information. 

Most of the students are country bred and usually 
know their home counties thoroughly; but when they 
study the drift of affairs and events during a 10-year 
interval, and check the contrasts, they are brought face 
to face with causes, conditions, and consequences within 
small, definite, well-known areas. 

The discoveries challenge interest and concern like 



54 The Rural School and the Community 

a bugle blast. A sense of civic and social responsibil- 
ity stirs in them. They hear the call to service in 
the country-side, to service within the walls of their 
schoolrooms and far beyond it. All of these young 
people will be teachers, but few of them will be teachers 
merely, they will be leaders as well, in all worthy com- 
munity enterprises." 

Having caried the work thus far, there are clearly 
two phases of the task still before us — one dealing 
with the curriculum itself, and the other dealing with 
the relation between the school and the adult. Each of 
these calls for separate attention. But before taking 
up these, a word regarding the teacher himself will 
be in order. 



CHAPTER IV 

THE TEACHER AND THE CURRICULUM 

THE second of the original propositions calls for 
an adapted curriculum. We must not, at any 
time, forget a thing that is made much of in our city 
schools but which is equally applicable to rural com- 
munities, and that is that the vast majority of people, 
at the present time, never get beyond the high school. 
The agricultural college will do much, but most young 
farmers will never get that far. In fact, this lack of 
education is peculiarly true of the country; for while 
the percentage of those who drop out is probably no 
larger than it is in the city, yet the terms in country 
schools are apt to be shorter, and having dropped out 
one finds that there is little equivalent for the continua- 
tion school or the apprenticeship so often open to city 
youth. Extension courses and correspondence courses 
are open to the country youth, it is true, but these can 
never quite fill the place of the opportunities of the 
urban dweller. What then, is to be done ? 

When the teacher, trained as has been suggested, 
comes to the open country, he finds confronting him 
two tasks ; one that of the adaptation of the curriculum, 
and the other the socializing of the school. The former 
is the more immediate. It should be noted at this point 
that the subjects required may be roughly grouped into 
two classes — those which may, in a large measure, be 
taught much the same in any community and those in 
which the greatest value is to be secured through special 

55 



56 The Rural School and the Community 

adjustment to local conditions. Thus, spelling, gram- 
mar, arithmetic, penmanship, and to a degree history, 
must be taught upon the basis of the involved principles, 
and the method must largely be the same whether the 
school is located in a mining, a grazing, or a lumbering 
community. With these we need not particularly con- 
cern ourselves now. 

On the other hand, there are those branches, such as 
agriculture and government, that ought to be adapted ; 
and they can only be made to mean the most through 
such adjustment. Not but what there are certain fun- 
damental principles that must be established wherever 
these studies are offered, but the greatest good comes 
through a particular application of them to the locality 
involved. Moreover, while the basic principles may be 
the same, their effective presentation is dependent upon 
a thorough acquaintance with local conditions, pre- 
judices, and temperament. The primary thing to note 
is that the demand is not for the offering of new 
courses nor the dropping of certain others. The diffi- 
culty is rather a matter of emphasis and adaptation. 

To be concrete, let us illustrate the point by a brief 
consideration of two communities. Roughly speaking, 
agricultural communities may be classed as (a) stock 
raising, (b) fruit raising, (c) dairying, (d) general 
farming, (e) market gardening, and (f) communities 
where particular crops are raised, such as corn, grain, 
cotton or tobacco sections. Further classifications 
may be made along other considerations, but these are 
the most obvious. 

Suppose, then, for the purpose of illustration, that 
we have two commimities — A and B. Having under- 
taken a social survey and analyzed the localities, let 
us suppose further that, in regard to A, the following 
facts are revealed: it is a fruit growing community; 



The Teacher and the Curriculum, 57 

most of the farmers are of native white stock ; they 
are conservative by temperament ; they borrow little 
money ; their average income is above that of farmers 
in general ; they own their own farms. In the commun- 
ity of B, the number of renters is very high — due to 
the cost of land ; the population is of foreign extrac- 
tion; the farmers secure a meager income from mixed 
farming. There is no grange, no lodges of any kind of 
significance, and there is no effort toward cooperation. 
These facts can be established to a certainty only by 
investigation — surface impressions are extremely apt to 
be erroneous and colored by the comparatively few 
persons with whom the investigator comes in contact. 
Moreover, even though the impressions be correct, the 
extent to which these conditions exist can only be 
determined by careful analysis and study. 

It might be mentioned, in passing, that the writer 
has in mind actual communities, in this analysis. They 
are essentially different in make-up, but are purposely 
so chosen for the sake of making the point perfectly 
clear. 

Now, in both of these communities — A and B — the 
state law requires the same course of study — from 
which are chosen, for the purpose of making the con- 
trast — the teaching of agriculture, of government, and 
of literature. These illustrate both the newer and 
the older tendencies in curriculum-making, and while 
it is obviously out of the question to outline courses 
in each of these branches, certain differences in pre- 
sentation and emphasis may be indicated by way of 
comparison. 

Take, for instance, the teaching of agriculture. In 
a recent bulletin of the bureau of Education^ it 
is pointed out that Warren's "Elements of Agri- 
i * Agricultural Instruction in High Schools. 



58 The Rural School and the Community/ 

culture" is used in twice as many schools as is any 
other text; it is followed in importance by GofF and 
Mayne "First Principles of Agriculture." Assuming, 
for purposes of illustration, that the teacher does use 
one of these texts, it would be interesting to know how 
many simply teach them through. More and more are 
teachers coming to supplement agricultural texts with 
experimental work, and occasionally with government 
bulletins. But the point to which it is intended to call 
attention is that the only variation in emphasis which 
the various divisions of the field get are those already 
indicated by the text, and the supplemental work is 
not for the sake of varying the emphasis. There are 
two reasons why this is done, one being that the teacher 
assumes that the children will get at home the applica- 
tion to local conditions ; the other being that he feels 
something of a lack of adequate preparation, and is 
afraid of making a mistake. 

So far as the first reason is concerned, it is simply a 
fact that children do not learn the principles at home. 
Probably most farmers do what they do, without know- 
ing why, simply because it brings some kind of results ; 
and hence the child does not see the principle in appli- 
cation in such form that it is recognized. Not infre- 
quently, too, the method pursued by the farmer is not 
the best by any manner of means. To cite a parallel 
illustration : the girl may learn something about house- 
hold management at home, but the facts are without 
explanation ; the process often cumbersome or awk- 
ward; and the results, judged from any point of view, 
are indifferent in quality. In any case, trained super- 
vision and direction are essential to the securing of 
the best results. 

So far as the second reason is concerned — the fear 
of making a mistake — it may be suggested that an ade- 



The Teacher and the Curriculum 59 

quate training foi* rural teaching might go a long 
way toward establishing confidence in his own ability, 
on the part of the teacher. Not that he need be a 
technically trained farmer, but he should be sure of him- 
self so far as he goes, and not be placed in a position 
where lack of preparation causes lack of efficiency. 

So the fact remains, that in the two communities we 
have under consideration, or any other community for 
that matter, a policy of equal emphasis can but result 
in a loss of efficiency. Either by bulletins, or lecture 
work, or experimental and laboratory work, the teacher 
in community A should by all means emphasize the 
things which the farmers in that locality need to know 
in a scientific way, — such as the culture of small fruits, 
spraying and tree pests, tree diseases, tree care, frost 
prevention, packing for market, advertising, and sub- 
sidiary crops. Special attention should be given to 
showing the value of cooperative enterprises, and the 
value of expert advice, for experience shows that it is 
in just such localities as this that the self-complacent 
native white scorns aid or advice. These are the things, 
on the other hand, which the teacher in B may safely 
pass over with less attention. He has need to empha- 
size rotation, seed selection, weeds, buildings, stock 
judging, feeds and feeding, diseases of cattle, good 
roads, and, the community being a renting one, the 
need of conservation. Not but what all of these things 
need to be taught in both localities, but the emphasis 
needs to be placed where the local need demands. The 
social survey will, moreover, indicate certain particu- 
lar weaknesses in this special fruit growing community 
— peculiarities that would probably come to one's 
notice in no other way. These need to be given atten- 
tion and not passed over for fear of local criticism. 
Tact must be used, but the facts must be told. 



60 The Rural School and the Community 

So, too, in the case of literature. Here there is, at 
the present time, less leeway for the teacher, since he is 
expected to cover the readings required for college 
entrance. The difficulty here arises primarily from 
the fact that in the committee of the National Educa- 
tional Association little weight indeed is given to the 
opinion of the rural constituency of that committee. 
The charge that the colleges have dictated the require- 
ments is of course not new, and in part a concession 
has been forced to meet the needs of the eighty-three 
per cent of high school students who do not go to col- 
lege. But the concessions have been made for the 
benefit of the technical and manual-training schools ; 
and while they are being accommodated in part, the 
rural student is as bad off as ever. The percentage 
of rural students who go either to the city technical 
school or to colleges of liberal arts is as small, in all 
probability, as the percentage of urban high school 
students who go to college. Yet no adjustment has 
been made for the benefit of this large percentage of 
rural students. It would seem as though consideration 
should be given to this fact. It is beyond all question 
possible to acquaint the rural student with the choicest 
bits of the world's literature and yet, at the same time, 
place the emphasis upon authors who treat of rural 
topics. Usually we pass these things by with a refer- 
ence to the beautiful figures of speech and to the fact 
that the scene is laid "in a simple country village." But 
it is difficult to see why in place of those writers who 
always give the urban point of view, we might not intro- 
duce more Whittier, and Longfellow, and perhaps Isaac 
Walton, Gray's Letters, and Thomson's "Seasons." 

These things, however, have been emphasized before, 
and they need not be repeated again, except to say that 
to gain even this vantage ground is not sufficient. So 



The Teacher and the Curriculum 61 

far as these particular communities are concerned is it 
not the part of wisdom to emphasize, in community A, 
such writings as will stir them out of their lethargy and 
make them question and think. In this connection 
Thoreau's "Walden", some of Burrows, and perhaps 
even parts of Rousseau may not be out of place. There 
are, too, many more recent writings that will serve the 
same purpose though they have not as yet taken their 
places among the world's greatest pieces of literature, 
and possibly never will. In B, on the other hand, a 
quieting, more satisfied tone is called for, — "The Vicar 
of Wakefield" and Whittier's "Snowbound," and Long- 
fellow will not be amiss. 

The same principle holds true in the teaching of 
government. Here the obvious function, in the case of 
A, is to develop an appreciation of the political heri- 
tage of the people, an appreciation of the influence 
of the native born English-speaking persons ; and more 
may be taken for granted as to the machinery of gov- 
ernment and the meaning of terms. In B, on the other 
hand, the function must be to develop a conception of 
an American's rights and duties, of the proper sphere 
of governmental activities (if there be any leaning 
toward socialism). To be somewhat more specific — in 
A the emphasis should be placed upon the influence 
of popular rule ; of special problems rising from the 
shifting of population ; questions of foreign policy may 
be considered ; and the organization of the various 
governmental agencies may be treated in greater detail. 
In B the topics that require special study are the 
place of political parties and terminology; the im- 
mediate duties of citizenship ; the ethics of the fran- 
chise; and the simpler facts bearing on the legal rela- 
tion of owner and tenant; as well as the obligations of 
debtors ; the place of the savings bank, and the like. 



62 The Rural School and the Community/ 

One may be pardoned for a seeming digression in this 
connection; but the subject is so seldom given due con- 
sideration in spite of its vital importance that par- 
ticular attention may well be called to it. Other phases 
of education have been duly emphasized, but so far as 
acquainting a student with the real nature of the politi- 
cal institutions that we expect him to support, or 
insisting upon the importance of keeping abreast of 
current events, or suggesting the nature of the great 
social questions with which the State itself is being 
forced to cope more and more, our secondary schools 
do little indeed. Few of our high school graduates 
have any but the haziest of notions, and these full of 
error, regarding the political world about them; while 
their ideas of the economic institutions of society are 
scanty and warped out of all proportion through lack 
of proper prospective, and still fewer graduates have 
any conception of the larger social problems of the 
day. 

The theory of the case is clear. One has but to give 
the situation a moment's thought to recognize the in- 
creasing importance of such training. Every month it 
is suggested that we transfer to the state some function 
hitherto left to private initiative. The government is 
constantly asked to regulate and supervise new fields 
of enterprise. Monopoly and competition alike are con- 
trolled by government commissions. It is neither to 
condemn nor defend this tendency that attention is 
called to it, but solely to urge that adequate perform- 
ance of these functions implies previous training and 
thought. 

The significance of the Avhole matter becomes more 
apparent when we bear in mind that the settlement of 
many of these questions is being forced directly back 
upon the people. Direct election, initiative and refer- 



The Teacher and the Curriculum 63 

endum, and recall have taken the place, in a measure, 
of representative government. At every election people 
are called upon to settle political, economic, and social 
questions of the widest significance. 

It is axiomatic that if five-sixths of our children do 
not complete the high school and if they are forced to 
settle such questions as these, some attention of more 
than superficial nature must be given to this phase of 
their education. Culture avails one nothing when 
anarchy prevails, and technical or industrial training 
is useless when hasty or unwise laws deaden industry. 
The conclusion, in theory at least, is inevitable — that 
any educational system which does not give students 
some conception of the social and political forces of the 
world about them does not fulfill its proper function. 

The theory of the case is thus clear. None can deny 
the need of such training nor that the training should 
be thorough and begun early. But what are the facts.'' 
Civics is probably taught in some form or other, in 
practically every high school in the United States. 
But, with this much granted, there are two things 
to be borne in mind. One is that in most of the schools 
it is an elective. With our insane desire to fill up our 
high school curriculum with as many electives as pos- 
sible, and a seeming desire not to force any student 
to take any study that he does not wish (unless, as one 
superintendent conceded, "it be English") a very large 
proportion of our students never take civics at all. 
English we force them to take; in most places, fortu- 
nately, we also compel students to take ancient and 
modern history; vocational work we rather expect to 
be taken ; but for this great, tremendously significant 
responsibility which the future citizen cannot well shirk, 
and for the attempted avoidance of which we unspar- 
ingly denounce him, we make little or no provision at all. 



64< The Rural School and the Community 

As President George Gunton has so well said, "At 
present, for the great army of youths who go from the 
public schools to the workshop, there is no mental 
preparation for intelligent dealing with these subjects. 
They are left to jostle against their fellows in the 
workshop, to hear and feel the causes for discontent; 
they read the inflammatory and sensational stuff in the 
newspapers, listen to more or less acrimonious discus- 
sions of social questions in their shop meetings and or- 
ganizations ; and all without the slightest background 
of educational preparation for forming rational judg- 
ments. The only natural result is that their decisions 
are made up from feelings and prejudices created by 
their economic environment."" 

No wonder, then, that the politician of the lower 
type can dominate our political life ; that public opinion 
is unable to settle upon any course of action and compel 
results ; and that there are many intelligent men within 
our own land who urge, more or less under their breath 
but none the less strongly, that popular government is 
a failure. 

No further argument should be needed to establish 
the necessity for a thorough and sane course in the 
so-called social sciences. And from what has been said 
heretofore it must be evident that no course dealing 
with these subjects can be of greatest value unless 
local conditions and peculiarities are kept constantly 
in mind. 

And finally, a word in summary about the curric- 
ulum. It obviously does not serve the demands of 
adjustment merely to introduce rural themes and agri- 
cultural instruction in the rural schools, although these 
things help much. The real adjustment is between the 
curriculum and the particular community in question. 

•National Educational Association, 1901, p. 133. 



The Teacher arid the Curriculum 65 

And lastly, the end of it all should be kept ever in 
mind — to build up a live, efficient, and socialized farmer 
who realizes the dignity of his calling. To this end 
must all branches of instruction be pointed, and each 
should support the other in an effort to realize its 
attainment. 



CHAPTER V 

THE PROBLEM OF THE ADULT 

'T^HE discussion up to this point has indicated the 
-'■ need of a social survey in every community, and has 
suggested the method by which this survey may be 
conducted. Resting upon the facts revealed by this 
study, a program that shall be constructive in every 
sense of the word may be built. Two of the principles 
involved in the situation have been made clear. First, 
the teacher must be trained adequately for his work; 
not only as to facts and method of teaching, but he 
must also appreciate the economic and sociological 
responsibilities of his position. In the second place, 
there must be a curriculum which is adapted to rural 
life, and which shall train men for leadership and intel- 
ligent citizenship. 

We come now to the final principle — one that deals, 
in a sense, with the end of the whole matter. The prob- 
lem of the adult is a two-fold one ; it must treat on the 
one hand, with the man or woman who has been reared 
under an educational system that has produced a 
product worthy of the effort. It has already been sug- 
gested that the whole object of rural education is to 
turn out a live, efficient, and socialized farmer, and in so 
far as the school attains this object, that is the result. 
On the other hand, there is the adult who has not had 
any training under such an educational system, or has 
had it only in part. And here we meet with a much 
more difficult situation. 

66 



The Problem of the Adult 67 

It is because the school has not always done its full 
duty toward those with whom it has had to deal, that 
it should feel some responsibility resting upon it for 
the success of these persons, later. This is not the 
place to inquire at length into the social center, and 
it is made the subject of discussion in this chapter 
merely to indicate its relation to the other factors that 
have been under consideration; and to point out some- 
thing of the part which the teacher should play in social 
center movements. 

The social center is extremely desirable in the city, 
but its rural value is many times greater, for there it 
supplies a need seldom met by any other agency. Partly 
because of the natural individualism ; partly because of 
the greater social attractions of the city ; partly be- 
cause the railroad and trolley have made people be- 
lieve that the urban advantages can be made to serve 
the country folk ; partly because of religious sectarian- 
ism; and largely because the school teacher has not 
seen its needs and possibilities, country life has become 
anything but attractive. 

The weakness, as has already been pointed out, is 
both an economic and a social one. Yet behind both, 
in a large measure, rests the failure to realize a com- 
munity spirit, and for this lack the school can and 
should be held responsible. I say "should be", and I 
say this because where such a movement has been lack- 
ing, its beginning should emanate from the school. Yet, 
as a matter of fact, the school has failed to adapt itself 
either to the future demands of the child or to the 
present needs of the adult. The former we have con- 
sidered at some length. What is the teacher's proper 
function so far as the latter is concerned.? 

In the first place let it be noted that the teacher is 
the natural initiator of such a movement. Non-sectar- 



68 The Rural School and the Commimity 

ian, a prominent figure, with the results of the survey 
in his hands, adapted by training to lead, he is (or 
should be) preeminently fitted for the task. Or, as 
Mr. C. J, Galpin has put it, "The rural school teacher 
is a paid leader in the neighborhood and community, 
usually with some surplus human interest and some 
surplus energy, available for the social center enter- 
prise. This surplus energy, while often donated volun- 
tarily to the public, may be contracted for and paid for, 
and so made a part of the institutional life of the 
school." 

"The initial requirement," says Ward, "will be lead- 
ership. It will require a man and a woman. Two are 
enough to start with. Their qualities of leadership 
must consist of broad ideals, untiring energy, patience, 
tact, limiting their guidance only to the point where 
people think for themselves, yet ever keeping people 
alive to this point. It will require constant endeavor, 
they must be always 'on the job'. The two can work 
wonders in any isolated community." Are not these 
requirements exactly the ones that are called for in 
a teacher.'' 

Granting leadership, "an accessible location, a build- 
ing equipped for gatherings to discuss, to play, or to 
feast;" such as the school plant furnishes, "some or- 
ganized responsible control ; frequent occasions of a 
social nature appealing to all ages and both sexesj 
along the planes of fundamental human interest, — 
form some of the essentials of a rural social center. The 
sufficient justification for the social center lies in the 
fact that the thought, feeling, and experience of any 
individual is unavoidably incomplete and in the further 
fact that by looking into one another's eyes and enter- 
ing into the life and experiences of one another through 
imagination and sympathy, the individual more nearly 



The Problem of the Adult 69 

completes himself and more nearly lives the life of the 
race. The rural social center is further justified by 
the absolute necessity of rural community acquaint- 
ance as a rational means of creating the conditions 
under which the reinforcing social institutions of school, 
club, society, municipality, church and the like, usually 
thrive. 

... It will be seen . . . that no rural neighbor- 
hood ... is too isolated or too poor to afford some 
form of social center. On the other hand, it will also 
be seen that no rural community is so well-to-do in its 
farm homes, so accessible to city diversions and culture, 
that it may not profit by this device for massing the 
acquaintance of its own resident people." ^ 

To the question as precisely how to start a club, 
obviously no general answer can be given. One must 
take advantage of whatever local opportunities pre- 
sent themselves. "The first requisite is a social magnet. 
This can best be furnished by a community library, 
started by private contributions of books and money." 
Clubs should be organized, sewing and cooking clubs, 
literary clubs, clubs for the young, for the old, and 
for the middle-aged, clubs for men, and clubs for 
women. ^ 

Generally speaking, these clubs all fall into one of 
four classes, and eventually there should be at least one 
club in each class, for each community. They may be 
classified as "the farmers' club proper, which consists 
of a mixed audience ; the literary society or lyceum, 
usually composed of the young people of a community 
who have been brought together through the leadership 

^ Rural Social Centers in Wisconsin, by C. J. Galpin, Bulletin 
234, published by the Agricultural Experiment Station of the 
University of Wisconsin. See p. 8. 

^ See article by the writer, in Educational Review, Oct., 1914. 



70 The Rural School and the Community 

of a country teacher; ladies' societies or circles, whose 
work is social, literary, or benevolent ; and purely social 
organizations of young people in the country who 
know how to have a good time in the right way." ^ 

An actual illustration, chosen from many that might 
be cited, may serve to indicate how one successful social 
center movement was started. "On one occasion the 
County Training School Principal and the writer were 
speaking to an audience of parents and pupils called 
together on invitation of the teacher. One of the speak- 
ers discussed the value of alfalfa to the farmer and the 
best means of securing a crop. The other address con- 
sidered means of community development and the im- 
portance of united effort. At the close of the talks one 
interested farmer asked 'How may we organize a farm- 
ers' club in this neighborhood .P' The subject was 
further discussed, interest was manifested, and plans 
were laid for a permanent organization. Committees 
on constitution, program, and club name were appointed 
and the time of the next ipeeting fixed. The club has 
since been fully organized with a good membership, and 
meets regularly. The people felt the need of closer 
fellowship and welcomed an opportunity to meet and 
consider questions of common interest. Thus the Sauk 
Prairie Farmers' Club came to be." ^ 

In this same county, a typical one in the state of 
Wisconsin, "there are now in operation outside of 
village and city, twenty-five country clubs. The mem- 
bership ranges from twenty-five or thirty members in 
the smaller clubs to seventy or eighty in the larger. 
In some no membership fee is charged while in others 
annual dues of from ten to twenty-five cents are paid. 
Meetings are held once in two weeks at the members' 

* Rural Social Devlopment. The Third Annual Report of the 
Wisconsin Country Life Conference. Jan., 1913. 
*Ibid. 



The Problem of the Adult 71 

homes, in school houses, or in halls owned or used for 
this purpose. Three of the clubs now own buildings. 
In one of these oyster suppers, ice-cream socials, lec- 
tures, and dances are held, and the young people find 
means of social enjoyment in the neighborhood." ^ 

It should be noted that this movement is not, and 
should never be allowed to become "an effort from 
without to amuse or entertain the country people. It 
is not a moving picture song and dance performance. 
It is a movement from within. A movement on the part 
of farm folks to provide right means of social enjoy,- 
ment, a movement that develops leaders and builds up 
communities through social, educational, and economic 
cooperation." ^ 

We are prone to think of efforts of this kind as hav- 
ing for their object mere social pleasure. Nothing 
could be further from the real truth, and the teacher 
must be careful not to allow himself to be misunder- 
stood in this respect. 

The leaders of the movement should keep in mind 
that a federation of social center clubs in any county is 
to be desired, eventually. The reasons for this, when 
the time becomes ripe for it, are quite obvious. All 
rural organizations should be invited to membership in 
the association, but all persons interested in rural wel- 
fare should be invited to attend the meetings and take 
part in the discussions. 

The experience of the various clubs now existing 
certainly proves the value of rural organizations. It is 
a part of the work of a federation to assist in the or- 
ganization of farmers' clubs as far as possible. The 
county superintendent of schools may well be secretary 
of such an association since he is generally in close touch 

° Rural Social Development. Third Annual Report of the Wis- 
consin Country Life Conference. Jan., 1913. 

« Ibid. 



72 The Rural School and the Commwnity 

with nearly all rural organizations in the county. He 
knows the leaders in different clubs and communities 
who may be called upon to assist neighboring clubs. 
He may speak before these clubs and urge upon other 
communities the need of organized community effort. 
Thus the endeavor should be to make the association 
directly valuable to the clubs already in existence and 
also an instrument that will encourage other communi- 
ties to organize for social improvement. 

And having gotten the thing under way, the teacher 
should see to it that in all local enterprises of what- 
soever nature the school should cooperate with the 
other social and economic agencies of the neighbor- 
hood. They should always work hand in hand for the 
good of children and adults alike, always willing to co- 
operate, mutually supporting, dealing with different 
phases of the same big problem. For all of these activi- 
ties the school-house should serve as a common meeting 
place and as a clearing house for the community's 
activities. And, in the last place, all this implies that 
the teacher must be a social worker. Nothing could 
be clearer than that she can not do this unless she have 
a real grasp of the sociological and economic situation 
and a broad grasp of its significance. 

So may be reached the goal toward which we started 
out — a teacher trained to understand both her children 
and her community, a curriculum adapted not only to 
rural conditions in general but to each one in particular, 
and a school center which concentrates and develops 
all of these forces that lead to the upbuilding of a 
wholesome rural life. From it will come service both 
to the present and to the future generations, and a 
service that will find its reward, financial, social, mental. 
Who could ask for more.? 



CHAPTER VI 

THE TRAINING OF THE TEACHER 

BUT," says the teacher, "we have heard all of this 
before. When I was in the Normal we were 
told repeatedly that we ought to know our community. 
What we haven't heard, but want to, is a definite con- 
crete application of the thing." The teacher who re- 
plies thus is right, and he knows whereof he speaks. 
There has been a wealth of generalization, but little of 
specific application. Whether it be due to failure to 
realize the necessity for it or to unwillingness on the 
part of speakers and writers to make the effort re- 
quired to be exact and not vague, there is no means 
of telling. 

And yet another says, "Of course one should know 
something of the community, but why know all of these 
things ? They are good things to know, and all of that, 
but I fail to see any connection between the rate of 
interest that farmers pay on their loans or the number 
of socialists in a community and the school curriculum." 

And yet the relation is direct and more or less im- 
mediate. Before pointing it out, however, there are 
certain fundamental considerations that must be borne 
in mind. To these, even at the risk of repeating some 
things that seem commonplace, it is desired briefly to 
call attention. If there be any truth in the position 
thus far assumed, then it necessarily follows that each 
and every community is more or less peculiar unto 
itself and differs to a degree at least from all other 

73 



74 The Rural School and the Community 

communities. It is because of this fact that it has been 
ur^ed that the problem of adjustment must be dealt 
with by each locality more or less independently of all 
other localities. There are, on the other hand, certain 
fundamental principles that must be kept in mind every- 
where, and that are, in their own way, quite universally 
true. 

The weaknesses of the rural school system of the 
United States has been treated times without number. 
It becomes increasingly apparent that the time has 
come to state the problem constructively and affirma- 
tively, and in view of a recognized weakness, to indicate 
the basic principles upon which the socialization of 
the rural school must rest. 

The negative aspect of the work has been done. The 
attention of thinking men and women has been directed 
to the lamentable condition so general in our rural 
education. What is needed to-day is a constructive 
statement — the laying down of a program of regener- 
ation and uplift. 

The task thus stated is a large one, and cannot be 
fully dealt with short of a tremendous amount of ex- 
perience and thought. The time has not come for a 
final statement even of the conditions to be met ; and 
let us hope that it never Avill come. Moreover, each 
locality must largely deal with its own problems, and 
hence a general statement, universally true, can con- 
sist of little more than mere outline. The general fea- 
tures of this outline can be suggested. 

The fundamental principles may be reduced to three : 
(1) a properly trained teacher; (2) an adaptation of 
the curriculum to meet the needs of the children of 
school age in that particular community ; (3) an ex- 
tension of the activities of the school so as to serve 
to an increasing extent the needs of present day adults. 



The Training of the Teacher 75 

A general word may not be amiss at this point before 
passing on to a more detailed consideration of the first 
of these ideas. It is constantly urged, and it must be 
confessed, with a goodly show of reason, that a realiza- 
tion of this ideal, good though it may be, depends upon 
the existence of two things which are lacking in the 
average community ; namely, financial support and 
moral appreciation. It will readily be conceded that 
to attain its fullest measure of success there must be 
an adequate school plant, well equipped, and in the 
hands of an able teacher ; and that to gain these things 
money must be obtained. It will be conceded with 
equal willingness that an increase of the teacher's sal- 
ary, for example (assuming ability to give) rests upon 
an appreciation of the problem and an existence of an 
ideal that does not exist in very many communities at 
the present time. These two difficulties are not synon- 
omous. No one who lias kept abreast of recent studies 
in rural economics need be told that the farmer is not 
the universally wealthy man that he is often assumed 
to be. Doubtless, not over one-fourth of them are what 
is termed "well-to-do." If such be the case, then there 
is a limit to the funds which he can expend on salaries 
and equipment, however much he may desire advance 
along these lines. On the other hand, so far as results 
are concerned, no more is gained in communities where 
lack of appreciation causes the difficulty. There is 
no class of people that has gained such a reputation of 
being "close-fisted" as retired farmers, and too often 
the same epithet is applied to wealthy ones. A man will 
not spend money, ordinarily, for movements in which 
he has no interest. Obviously, then, development of in- 
terest is the first thing to be undertaken in these com- 
munities, and generally speaking, a lack at this point 
is more discouraging than at the other, but the need is 



76 The Rural School and the Community 

equally great. Beyond all question, then, these two 
difficulties, plus a teacher with no broader vision, con- 
stitute the great obstacle to rural development. But 
with these things fully appreciated, it is submitted that 
any live teacher who goes into a community with a 
realization of the rural problem; who understands the 
method and the place of a social survey ; and who, with- 
out waiting for a universal and visible manifestation 
of this moral appreciation makes, in his own way, the 
most of such opportunities as may be at his disposal, 
will not need to wait a life-time to find the community 
back of him. And where one's moral sympathy goes, 
there also goes one's money. Aye, we may go further 
even than this. If the sympathy be developed and 
the school do its full share, then even inability to con- 
tribute may oftentimes be corrected. 

One cannot measure the extent of the return from a 
strong community spirit. The frank facing of eco- 
nomic problems, a collective effort to meet them, a 
cooperation with outside agencies of value, may well 
transform a community of a low grade of income to 
one very appreciably higher. The writer has seen this 
too many times not to know that it is true. When 
people are shown the new ideal, and are convinced, even 
in little ways, of its value, the rest will follow if one 
but be patient. "There's a reason" for the dearth of 
concentrated interest. 

The first of the aforementioned propositions has to 
do with the teacher. In many respects, it is by far 
the more important aspect of the problem. The per- 
sonal element, however, has been dealt with so copiously 
by others that there is little need at this time to empha- 
size it further, and if those in the profession have not 
already been touched by the appeal, then surely it 
does not lie within the power of the present writer to 



The Trainmg of the Teacher 77 

move them. It is desired merely to put side by side 
certain demands that perhaps have not always been 
so grouped in times past. 

The need of an insistence upon a fair proportion 
of professional work is being recognized more and 
more. In self-defense, the state should insist that no 
man or woman be permitted to teach in any public 
school of the state unless he or she can produce evi- 
dence to the effect that work has been pursued in a dis- 
tinctly accredited professional school for at least two 
years. It may be urged that this works an injustice 
to those who prepare themselves for the profession 
outside of any institution. But in reply it may be said 
that seldom, if ever, is such preparation as this ade- 
quate, and never is it the equivalent or work done under 
a competent instructor. The number who do thus pre- 
pare themselves is not large, in any case. 

A confusion of thought may easily arise in this con- 
nection. There is in many of the civil service examina- 
tions of the present day, an oral as well as a written 
examination. The object is, to be certain that the ap- 
plicant not only knows specified things, but to be sure 
that he has a personal fitness for the position for which 
he may be applying. The former fact may be dis- 
covered from the written answers on the paper; the 
latter never except by personal interview. Much the 
same thing is true of those about to go into the profes- 
sion of teaching. Only in a professional institution 
can a practice department be organized ; in no other 
place can personal fitness be so well judged by those 
who are competent to judge. The work may be done 
in a normal school or in a college, preferably the for- 
mer ; it may be done in some institution similar to the 
county training schools of Wisconsin; it may even be 
done in teacher-training courses in the high schools. 



78 The Rural School and the Commumty 

if there is no other way out of it; but it surely should 
bo done somewhere. Unquestionably one of the very 
greatest causes of weakness in our rural schools, is the 
inadequacy of preparation and the personal incompe- 
tency of the teachers. I know of no way in which this 
can be remedied other than by professional training 
in an institution fitted for such work. 

Nor is it sufficient to stop here. As the Ohio Com- 
mission has so well pointed out, no mere written exam- 
ination can serve as an adequate test of pedagogical 
training or of teaching ability. Such examinations 
should by no means be abolished, but on the other hand, 
they are not in themselves satisfactory. An actual 
classroom test should be insisted upon. Many people 
can tell exactly how to do a great many things that 
they cannot actually do themselves, and this u particu- 
larly true of teaching. A written quiz to test knowledge 
and an actual classroom test to judge teaching ability 
— then the granting of a certificate, mean something 
worth while. Nothing can be more harmful either to 
pupil or teacher, than to send a graduate of a grade 
school back to a rural school to teach. The community 
that allows it gets just what it pays for — the poorest 
possible product on the market. We would never think 
of sending our children to fake physicians, but we are 
too often willing to place them for seven or eight years 
under a fake teacher. 

Adequate supervision is, of course, implied. Whether 
this supervision be conducted by the principal or a 
state inspector is not so important, though a combina- 
tion of the two is devoutly to be wished. Its impor- 
tance, however, will be recognized at once, and it may 
be passed without further mention other than to insist 
that this supervision must be by one who is whole- 
heartedly in the rural problem, and who is able tQ 



The Traming of the Teacher 79 

judge and suggest, not of the classroom work alone, 
but of the teacher's efficiency as a social force in the 
community. Here again we meet with the old difficulty 
of lack of appreciation and training. It is not strange 
that a supervisor who has never been trained to see the 
true relation between school and community ; who trusts 
to his personal judgment as to existing facts; and 
whose interests lie in urban matters, would fail to criti- 
cize a teacher for inabihty or unwillingness to deal with 
the rural problem as a whole. So the fact remains that 
teachers are judged, ahnost entirely, upon classroom 
work. Now, class-room work is essential and primary, 
but surely not exclusive. Teachers have sometimes 
been forced out of localities because of actions which 
the community would not tolerate ; but it is rare indeed, 
that a supervisor or a community has urged a teacher's 
removal for what he did not do. We are too apt to 
commend as "unusual" a teacher who does some con- 
structive things, and to say nothing of him who does 
not engage in betterment work. The sole tests of effi- 
ciency are apt to be whether or not the children like 
the teacher, and whether or not the Superintendent 
thinks he knows his subject. One cannot be too harsh 
with the teacher if the supervisor does not do his share. 
We come now to a third phase of the teacher-side 
of the problem, and one that is not always so clearly 
seen. The need of professional training was mentioned 
above and reference was made in that instance to train- 
ing in what is technically known as the pedagogical 
subjects. But if the rural school is to take the place 
which it must ultimately assume, the training must go 
far beyond this. In the common school branches, mere 
ability to absorb certain facts, combined with an under- 
standing of the history of education and of the psy- 
chology of teaching, even though the teacher he able 



80 The Rural School and the Community/ 

to get the desired facts to the children, does not mean 
that he attains his highest function. It is realized that 
this is a far-reaching statement and it is one with which 
many may not be willing to agree. The test of a good 
teacher has always been the ability of the person to 
maintain order and force the children to understand 
certain facts and processes. If these things were done 
well, that generally ended the matter. But I submit, 
that it is this ideal of teaching that has so narrowed 
and cramped the profession as to rob it of its highest 
meaning. Nowhere has this been more true than in the 
case of the rural school. Partly because he has been 
inadequately prepared ; partly because he has had no 
one to give him a vision of the social significance of 
education ; and partly because rural teaching has nevei? 
been made a life work but has only been thought of as a 
step toward an urban position (if indeed it has been 
entered with any thought at all of remaining a teacher), 
the average rural teacher of the past has not been a 
true success. There can be no controverting the fact 
that there has been no other one cause which has had 
more to do with the decline of rural life, than the failure 
on the part of teachers to make the school a social 
force of import, not alone to the school children, but 
to the community at large. 

Now, the ability to make the work what it ought to 
be, depends in no small measure upon the nature of 
the teacher's training. No teacher is prepared merely 
because he knows the facts which are to be presented 
and has had, in addition, a certain amount of so-called 
professional work. Two things are supremely neces- 
sary. One is, bearing in mind that no teacher ought 
to be granted a certificate without professional work, 
that when the prospective teacher enters the normal 
school he should have much of his general training 



The Traming of tlie Teacher 81 

behind him. The normal school is a technical school 
and must be treated as such. Law students, for in- 
stance, in the best of our law schools, are not permitted 
to take up any study of law until a generous amount 
of general academic work has been completed. In some 
quarters the same degree of general preparation is be- 
ing demanded for engineering students, as preparatory 
to distinctly technical work. In many places these par- 
ticular branches of work are not allowed until the 
junior year of general college work has been completed. 
So it should be in the profession of teaching. The nor- 
mal school is primarily a place to learn how to teach, 
not what. The situation in this connection is unfor- 
tunate. Among university teachers at large there is 
no other class of students held to be so unsatisfactory 
as normal school graduates, and the reason is not solely 
jealousy of the normal schools. The almost universal 
criticism is made that such students deal in generali- 
ties, do not think for themselves, and lack a compre- 
hensive understanding of fundamental principles. The 
charge is easily overstated, but there is much truth 
in it. Lack of uniform preparation on the part of those 
entering renders the problem a difficult one for the 
normal schools to handle; but the plan of "scattera- 
tion" aggravates the situation. This plan constitutes 
the taking of ten weeks of one subject, fifteen weeks 
of some other, and perhaps twenty weeks of still 
another. It is no wonder that hard, concentrated effort 
does not produce satisfactory results. Another diffi- 
culty arises from insufficient knowledge of facts prior 
to the taking of pedagogical training. The writer has 
heard this answer nine times out of ten from those to 
whom was put the question of the value of normal 
school training: "One thing is to be kept in mind — 
one should not learn how to teach until one has first 



82 The Rural School and the Commwnity 

learned some facts to be presented." Whether or not 
this charge of lacking knowledge of facts is true, it 
is something for our normal school teachers to think 
about. But, having provided in one way or another 
for this informational training, it should never be for- 
gotten that the institution in question is a professional 
school, and it must always be regarded as such. 

The second thing to be insisted upon, is that the 
would-be teacher, upon admission to this technical 
school, be required to specialize, within reasonable lim- 
its. Not alone that literature or manual-training be 
selected as a major, but that each person select between 
the common school and the high school ; and between 
the city school and the country school. The nature of 
the tasks in these various schools are quite different 
and demand different preparations. 

If we grant, then, that these things, though a little 
revolutionary, are necessary — as must be done upon 
second thought — we must, with the rural teacher in 
mind, ask ourselves what should be the nature of his 
training. Three things must he learn aside from the 
theory and practice of teaching and the professional 
aspect of history and arithmetic. (1) He needs a more 
or less thorough study of the principles of sociology; 
(2) he should be required to make a special study of 
rural economic and sociological problems, following 
such texts as Taylor's "Elements of Rural Economics" 
and Gillette's "Rural Sociology"; (3) he should have 
some training in the making of a social survey, accom- 
panied by what may be termed laboratory work — that 
is, some actual field work under direction.-^ 

* "Perhaps this particular part of the work can best be done in 
sociological seminars, such as are conducted at the Kalamazoo 
(Mich.) State Normal School and by the Georgia Club of the 
State Normal School of Athens, Georgia. An ever-increasing 
number of institutions are giving courses especially for rural 
teachers. The work is still in its infancy, however. 



The Training of the Teacher 83 

The argument for such a training would seem, upon 
serious consideration, to be obvious. Indeed, we might 
well assume this to be true were it not that neither in 
the normal schools nor in the secondary schools is this 
field given anywhere near its due consideration. We per- 
sist in sending men and women, who have had no satis- 
factory training along lines of economic and political 
questions, out into the schools to train future citizens 
in right habits of thought upon such questions. And 
these teachers are, as tests have shown, lamentably 
ignorant of even the important current events. No 
wonder, when the teacher has been neither impressed 
nor trained in the right way, that deserving impor- 
tance is not attached to this theme elsewhere.^ 

The result is that children do not become social in 
the broadest sense, leaders fitted for this task do not 
appear, and citizenship degenerates. 

The more immediate effect, as though this were not 
enough, is perhaps even more unsatisfactory. It is 
that the teacher fails to attack the community prob- 
lems which arise. Some mention has already been made 
of the seriousness of this situation, and more will be 
said later. 

These things, then, should the teacher have — a 
thorough grasp of the subject matter of the texts or 
work he is called upon to teach; a working knowledge 
of psychology and the theory of teaching; a compre- 
hensive and eminently practical training in the treat- 
ment of the economic and sociological questions peculiar 
to rural communities. One lacking in any of these 
must, in a greater or less degree, fail to accomphsh 
his full mission, while there is no limit to the things 
one can do with them. 

2 See the writer's "School Science in the Secondary Schools." School 
Review, XXIII, 455-64. 



BIBLIOGRAPHY 

THE following bibliography is, of course, suggestive 
rather than exhaustive. No effort whatsoever has 
been made to cover the vast amount of material dealing 
with the rural school in all its manifold phases. Em- 
phasis has been placed upon material, both descriptive 
and illustrative, dealing with the survey itself. Some 
references have been listed, dealing with the training of 
rural teachers as well as some which take up the ques- 
tion of correlation between school and community. 
Educational Survey of Three Counties in Alabama: 

Alabama — Dept. Educa, Jl. 1, 1914. 
A Method of Making a Social Survey. (Galpin) Univ. 
of Wise. Agricul. Exp. Station Circular of In- 
formation No. 20. 
Social Survey: its reasons, methods, and results (Dan- 
iels) Conf. Char, and Cor. 1910: 507-40. 
Sociology and the Social Survey. (Riley) Am. Jo. So. 

16: 818-33. 
Survey and the Smaller City. (Palmer) World To-day 

21 828-32. 
Rural Life Surveys Conducted by the Depart, of Church 
and Country Life Board of Home Missions of 
Presbyterian Church. 
Social Survey in Rural Education (Lewis) Educa. 

R. 48:266-87. 
Report of the Ohio State School Survey Commission, 

Jan. 1914. 
Knoming One's Own Community (Aronovici) American 
Unitarian Asso. Social Service Series, Bull. No. 
85 



86 Bibliography 



An Agricultural Survey (Warren and Livermore) Bul- 
letin No. 295 College of Agriculture, Cornell Univ. 
(1911) 

Rural Schools. (Wild) Survey 30: 525. 

Social and Educational Survey of the Rural Commun- 
ity. (Wilson) Na. Educa. Asso. 1912: 281. 

National Clearing House for Social Surveys and Ex- 
hibits. Survey 29: 1. 

County Superintendents and Rural Communities. 
(Lathrop) Na. Educa. Asso. 1911: 35. 

State Normal Schools and the Rural School Problem. 
(Loomis) Educa. R. 39: 484-. 

What the Normal Schools Can and Ought to Do With 
the Training of Teachers for Rural Communities. 
(Hayes) Na. Educa. Asso. 1913: 546. 

Application of the Social Survey to Small Communities. 
(GiUin) Am. Jo. So. 17:647. 

Course of Study for the Preparation of Rural School 
Teachers. (Mentaller and Craig) U. S. Bur. 
Educa. Bull. 1912: 1, P. 1. 

Readjustment of a Rural High School to the Needs of 
a Community. (Brown) il. U. S. Bur. Educa. 
Bull. 1912; 20 pp. 1-31. 

Community Service Week. Supt. Public Instruction, 
Raleigh, N. C. 

Education in the Country for the Country. (Ziller) 
Na. Educa. Assoc. 1910: 245-53. 

Rural Schools and Community Needs. (Holden) Na. 
Educa. Asso. 1913: 592. 

Solving Country Life Problems in Mass. (Andress) 
Educa. 35: 91. 

Where Home and School Really Meet. Ladies H. J. 
31 :46. 

Opportunity of the Country School Teacher. (Wo- 



Bibliography 87 

mack) J. Educa. 79:35. 
The Georgia Club. (Branson) U. S. Bur. Educa. Bull. 

1913, No. 23. 
Constructive Rural Sociology. (Gillette) Chap. XVI. 

and XVIII. 
Rural Social Centers in Wisconsin. (Galpin) Bull. No. 

234, Agric. Exp. Station, Univ. Wise. 
Rural Social Development, being the report, edited by 

Galpin, of the Wisconsin Country Life Conference. 

Univ. Wise. 
Effective Exhibition of a Community Survey, il. Am. 

City 12: 95-100. 
Father Springfield in the Mirror. (Lindsay) Survey 

33: 316-18. 
Development of tJie Social Survey. (Harrison) Conf. 

Char, and Cor. 1913: 345-53. 
Opening the Eyes of a Community. (Sands) Am. City 

11:405. 
Social and Economic Survey of a Rural Township in 

Southern Minnesota. (Thompson and Warber) 

Am. Jo. So. (Review) 19: 676-8. 
A Study of Rural Schools ki Texas. (White and Davis) 

Bull. Univ. Texas No. 364 (Extension Series No. 

62.) 
How to Make a Social Survey. (Jenkins) Ind. 74 : 1335. 
Spread of the Survey Idea. Survey 30 :157. 
Educational Survey of a Suburban and Rural County. 

U. S. Bur. Educa. Bull. 1913 : 32 p. 1-68. 
How May a Community Learn to Meet Its School 

Needs? (AUen) Na. Educa. Asso. 1912: 384. 
School Surveys in Michigan, Wisconsin, and Ohio. El. 

School Teacher 13 : 362. 
Standards and Tests for Measuring Efficiency of 

Schools or Systems of Schools. (Strayer) Biblio- 
graphy. U. S. Bur. Educa. Bull. 1913: 13, pp. 



88 Bibliography 

1-23. 

Efficienct/ and the Rural School — Survey of Lake 
County, Ohio. 

Social Responsibility of the School, the Rural Situa- 
tion. King, "Social Aspects of Education." pp. 
24-53. 



INDEX 



Adjustment through Survey, 
32, 74, 

Adult, two-fold problem of, 66. 

Agricultural communities, clas- 
sification of, 56; illustrative, 
56-57, 59, 61. 

Agriculture, failure of, 14; 
teaching of, 57-58; experi- 
mental work of, 58; texts on, 
58. 

Appreciation, lack of, 75. 

Assistants, 44-45. 

Bethlehem Steel Works, 33-34. 
Blanks, survey, 26-31. 
Branches, adapted, 56. 
Bulletins, survey, 44. 

Charts, illustrations of survey, 
22-24. 

Children, education of, 63. 

Citizenship, degeneration of, 83. 

Civics, teaching of, 63. 

Classroom, tests for, 78. 

Clearing house, community ac- 
tivities in, 16. 

Cloud of Commercialism, The 
dark, 22. 

Clubs, country, 70-71; four 
classes of, 69-70; how to 
start, 69; federation of, 71. 

Communities, literature for 
various, 61; needs of, 59. 

Community spirit, lack of, 67. 

Constructive program, formu- 
lation of, 52. 

Cooperation, need of, 62. 



Current events, need of using, 
83. 

Curriculum, adapted, 55; spe- 
cial subjects of, 55-56. 

Curriculum and community, 
adjustment of, 64. 

Curriculum-making, illustra- 
tions of, 57. 

Data, collection of, 47; Presen- 
tation of, 51-52; tabulation 
of, 50-51 ; use of, 50. 

Diagrams and charts, 23-26. 

Economic problems, facing of, 
76. 

Education, end of, 33. 

Educational system, require- 
ments of, 63. 

Educational effort, plan of, 
52. 

Efficiency, examples of, 33, 34, 
52-53; increased, 32; School, 
35; teachers favor, 52. 

Electives, choice of, 63. 

Executive Committee, work of, 
46-47. 

Examinations, Civil Service, 77. 

Facts, as basis, 40; and public 
policies, 12; disregarded, 12; 
need of, 11, 82. 

Farmer, building of efficient, 
65; position of, 15; schooling 
of average, 55. 

Farming, as a business propo- 
sition, 14. 



89 



90 



Index 



Federation, of clubs, 71; secre- 
tary of, 71-72; work of, 71. 

Financial and Moral Support, 
lack of, 75. 

First Year, teacher's time dur- 
ing, 41. 

Georgia Club, 52-53; methods 

of, 53-54. 
General head, teacher as, 45. 
Government, new fields for, 62- 

63; teaching of, 61. 

Helpers, hints to, 47-49. 

Income, of schools, 16. 

Information, sources of accu- 
rate, 49. 

Initiator, teacher as, 67-68. 

Illustration, application of, 35. 

Interest, development of, 75; 
workers represent, 45. 

Knowledge vs. guesswork in 
business, 20. 

Leaders, lack, of, 17; school or 

church, 17-18. 
Leadership, 68 ; qualities of, 68. 
Library, need of community, 

69. 
Literature, adjustment of, 60. 

Massachusetts, Worcester 

county, 33. 
Maps, data, 51; general, 51; 

population, 51. 
Material, suggestive survey, 44. 
Mistakes, fear of, 58-59. 

Normal School, function of, 81. 

Normal School students, criti- 
cism of, 81; lack of uniform 
preparation in, 81. 

Ohio surveys, '25 \ charts of, 22- 
24. 



Organizations, choosing of, for 
survey, 46; surveys by, 45-46. 

People, settlement of questions 

by, 62-63. 
Personal element, appeal of, 76. 
Politics and government, 

knowledge of, G'H. 
Prejudice, possibility of, 47. 
Preparation, inadequacy of, 78. 
President George Gunton, quo- 
tations from, 64. 
Principles, three fundamental, 

74 ; Necessary explanations 

of, 58. 
Problem, rural, 13. 
Procedure, methods of, for 

survey, 45-46. 
Professional work, proportion 

of, 77. 
Program, need of constructive, 

74. 

Questions, for teachers, 36-38. 

Research, accuracy of, 20. 
Rural development, obstacles to, 

75-76. 
Rural schools, importance of, 

15. 
Rural Social Center, essential 

features of, 68-69. 

Salaries, need of larger, 75. 
Sauk Prairie Farmer's Club, 

70. 
School, responsibility of, 67; 

special activities of, 41. 
School-house, use of, 72. 
School plant, need of good, 75. 
Service, need of, 38. 
Social activities, agency for, 17. 
Social and economic agencies, 

cooperation of school with, 

72. 
Social Center — a movement for 

right enjoyment, 71; desir- 



Index 



91 



ability of, 67; starting of, 70; 
illustration of, 70; object of, 
71. 

Social science, need of knowl- 
edge of, 63-64. 

Specific application, need of, 
73. 

Students, electives for, 63; 
Normal School, 81. 

Suggestions, sample, to helpers, 
47-49. 

Supervision, 78-79; trained, 58; 
requirements for, 79. 

Survey, accuracy of, 19; appli- 
cation of, 35; church, 23-31; 
city, 20-21 ; cooperation in, 
43-44; detailed items of, 26; 
educational, 27; means and 
end of, 50; machinery of, 44- 
47; method of, 43; plan of, 
'26-'2Q; religious and educa- 
tional, '25; rural life, 21; 
sources of material for, 44; 
Ohio, 25; the beginning of, 
20; value of the, 32-33. 

Sympathy, development of, 76. 

Tact and Facts, 59. 

Teacher, and survey, 40; com- 



munity questions for, 36-38; 
examinations for, 78; earn- 
ing capacity of, 42; former 
tests of, 80; initiation on part 
of, 67-68; leadership of, 68; 
nature of training for, 82; 
need of capability of, 38; as 
part of the rural movement, 
18, 76; requirements for, 83; 
self-confidence of, 59; signifi- 
cance of, 16, 76; specializa- 
tion for, 82; training and 
academic work of, 80-81 ; 
three limitations on time of, 
41-43; time of, 41; two tasks 
of, 55. 

Technical questions, need of, 
13-14. 

Taylor, illustrations from, 33- 
34. 

Training, nature of teacher's, 
80; professional, 77-78. 

Training schools, 77. 

Weakness, economic and social, 

67. 
Worcester county, Mass., 33. 
Work, preparation for, 64. 
Workers, to obtain, 45. 



>-W|N(ljHtbS 



021 731 476 8 



III 



